Maybe a nova/sn in Cygnus ??

[Ptarmigan]

Not sure where on the forum to put this !

On CN there is a "Potential Supernova Discovery in Cygnus" topic

http://www.cloudynights.com/topic/476226-potential-supernova-discovery-in-cygnus-thoughts-please/#entry6214312

Three frames in an animated gif showing the (very fast ?) 'rise'

except to my eyes the two candidates seem misaligned

Anyone seen any other reports about it, are we going to be dazzled tonight !

Apologies if this has already been posted somewhere.

(also apologies if it is a false alarm ! )

[Earl]

Very cool, from what i read there its either a Nova in our galaxy or a supernova in a galaxy normally obscured.

Either way excellent thing to capture I can only dream of such delights

[Ptarmigan]

Yes, that is my understanding as well.

Be nice if 

[Ptarmigan]

Cant see anything on the Aus. Ice forum

any other forums where it is dark at the mo. ?

[TiTanecd]

wow that must be an amazing feeling to discover that. Hope it works out for him.

[VigdisVZ]

Strangely I havent seen anything in the variable section of swedish Astronet. This means one of two things.

1) It's not something to worry about.

or

2) It's really something to worry about

Also, it's in Cygnus, meaning it's probably in our galaxy, hence not a Supernova, because everyone would have noticed that by now, but it could be a Nova...

[Ptarmigan]

Ominously quiet, no news from the east

[Ptarmigan]

I've got bright lights in my sky,

but accompanied by loud noises and an H2O nebula

[andrew63]

Thanks for the info.  If confirmed  it will be bright enough to see in binoculars.

andrew

[Astrobits]

Unfortunately, follow-up images show nothing. So whatever it was it was VERY transient.

See later posts in the Cloudy Nights link in the OP.

Nigel

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

It could be a flare star, these can brighten rapidly and fade in a matter of minutes. Amplitudes vary from a few tenths of a mag up to 5 mags

Another option is a point meteor. I have seen two or three in my life

[Astrobits]

As one post noted "there was an apparent offset between the second and third centres of this object". This could well point to a very nearly head-on meteor. However there is a 14 second gap between these two frames assuming his timing is accurate. Could a normal meteor last that long? Not in my experience.

Nigel

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

As one post noted "there was an apparent offset between the second and third centres of this object". This could well point to a very nearly head-on meteor. However there is a 14 second gap between these two frames assuming his timing is accurate. Could a normal meteor last that long? Not in my experience.

Nigel

Hadn't noted the precise time-line That is rather long for a meteor

[Knight of Clear Skies]

The off-centre mark in the second frame could well be a red herring, there are several other similar looking artifacts that appear between frames one and two. Each sub is twenty minutes long, so the three frames cover an hour.

Something happened, but if the follow-up observations are blank it's not a nova or supernova. A shame that no-one else appears to have been looking that way at the same time. If two people widely spaced got it that would rule out a satellite reflection or head-on meteor.

[Ptarmigan]

One thing for sure, that area of sky is going to get a lot of camera attention for some time to come,

not to mention archive searches !

The op on cn is feeling a bit sheepish, perhaps we should all go over there and tell him not to ?

Much better to post a possible than to not say anything and thus miss something.

I was a bit surprised that no one in the dark interim, ie. the east,  australasia, etc.  didnt chip in, had to wait till USA darkened again !

(I couldnt, had blunder and frightening all evening, rumbled on till I went to bed 3am !)

[Ptarmigan]

except to my eyes the two candidates seem misaligned

I have not done an isophot but, again to my eyes, the blob in frame 3 does not seem to be elongated in the direction of the possible precursor in frame2, supportive of a coincidence of artefact(s). 

So if there is no continuity of the event through frame2 to frame3 then 'thingy' could have occured at any time for any duration during frame3  ?? unless I'm having a senior moment Quite poss !

But if there really is no elongation then it would be a most remarkable point meteor !

[C7tsj]

Looks to be a false alarm but no one really knows what it was. The CN thread is a good read though and hats off to the chap, he almost had something.

[Dave In Vermont]

Perhaps Scotty couldn't prevent a "core-breach" and the Enterprise went up? Or perhaps it denotes a gamma-ray burst. Oh dear!

Clear Skies & Thanks for Posting That,

Dave