SN 2017ein in NGC3938

[alanjgreen]

Last night I setup for a crack at a visual view of the supernova in ngc3938 (SN2017ein). The seeing was excellent for the first time in a while!

I got out around midnight and planned to use the 20" with markv binos and panoptic 24mm EPs. Magnification around x125.

i quickly located the galaxy (thanks to Nexus!). I then spent quite some time orienting myself to the galaxy using my sketch taken from the internet and comparing to the star pattern in the eyepiece.

I eventually got the orientation sorted and started looking for something close in and under the galaxy.

there was nothing to be found on first viewing so I went off to other targets and would come back when it was darker (bit of a bad joke at this time of year  )

M51 and M101 proved quite good, there were several ngc's visible inside M101.

when I returned to 3938, I was getting faint hints of a reasonably bright dot embedded in the haze of the disc. It was only there with averted vision and it was coming and going. 

I never saw any of the fainter star patterns near the galaxy as seen in the photos but there was a bright dot for sure!

Looking at the photos this morning, the SN is brighter than those inner stars so maybe I did pick it up visually after all?

 

Alan

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

With a 20" scope, you should certainly have a chance. It was mag 16.3 a few days back, and may have brightened, so should be within range of your scope.