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It's all kicking off !

andrew63

By andrew63
in Discussions - Eyepieces

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andrew63

andrew63

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Just been viewing the Nova again.  Clouds, moon but still some nice clear patches. I think it confirmed from last night, it's a bit fainter  than the comparable close star HD 170700 -  I'd say just a bit brighter than 9th magnitude but still holding up well.

Just been thinking, it's a pinprick to look at, but we're seeing a massive explosion in our galaxy...

andrew

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Moonshane

Moonshane

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On 7/28/2017 at 19:52, andrew63 said:

There's a new comet just found in Cetus moving north, around mag. 10 and a Supernova in Psc in NGC 474 mag 13.7 but still brightening. And a bright Nova in Scutum mag. 8.8 so visible in binoculars -  for details see the sky & telescope link.  The sky awakens !

http://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/sky-surprises-new-comet-c2017-o1-scutum-nova-and-a-supernova-to-boot/

 

andrew

ASASSN17_hx-nova-finder_S.jpg

Finally caught up with this. Not as easy as I first expected and needed careful comparison and a sketch beforehand to allow me to confirm. Here's my sketch done st the eyepiece over two nights of chasing sucker  holes.

20170805_003518.jpg

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Littleguy80

Littleguy80

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Spent a long time trying to find the Nova last night. Really struggled to identify it though. I kept picking up fainter stars with averted vision where I thought it should be based on the sketch but they seemed really dim. The bright triangle that appears in the bottom right of Shane's diagram was easy to see. I could also see the dimmer star just off the bottom of the triangle. So I was either looking right at it and misinterpreting the sketch or it was one the  fainter stars I was seeing with averted vision. Much more challenging than I was expecting!

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Littleguy80

Littleguy80

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34 minutes ago, Moonshane said:

Don't forget my sketch is right  left reversed as I was using a refractor. For newts I uploaded a flipped version on another thread. Hope this helps. It was still the same two nights ago.

Thanks Shane! That may well be the explanation! Never occurred to me that I'd need to flip the image. Really appreciate the flipped version of your sketch. Very helpful. Will go back for another go as soon as the skies are clear :)

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John

John

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Shanes sketch is spot on. Had another look last night. The nova might have faded slightly I thought but it was still fairly clear in my ED120 scope at low power. I'd say that it's marginally the 3rd brightest of the 4 stars in that little diamond formation, just a touch fainter than the brightest 2 but still a lot brighter than the faint one (not very scientific ! :rolleyes2:).

That area of the sky is quite low from here so there will be some atmospheric extinction scrubbing a bit off the listed magnitudes of the stars.

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Littleguy80

Littleguy80

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Thanks John. I knew something wasn't quite adding up last night but couldn't figure out what it was. Given you and others were finding it using the sketch and I could see other stars of the same magnitude it just didn't make sense that I couldn't see it. I'm sure the flipped sketch will make the difference next time. Will be nice to see my first Nova :)

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Stu

Stu

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Pretty sure this is the correct field.

The smaller star below the bright triangle is mag 8.6 whilst the two stars which form the triangle with the nova are mag 9.3 and 9.8, which explains why you couldn't see them. Darker skies needed I should think.

Annoyingly I was within a gnat's whotsit of this last night looking at M17 but forgot to try for it! I suspect I would have struggled; only 4" scope and not a great part of the sky for me.

IMG_3255.PNG

IMG_3256.PNG

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John

John

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7 minutes ago, Mark at Beaufort said:

I viewed the Nova again last night and I think it is fainter than the 9.3 mag that I estimated on Saturday. I would put the mag at 9.8 having compared the nearby stars and checking their magnitude in Stellarium.

Yes, I think it "peaked" a little while ago. It will be interesting to watch it fade though, if we get any more clear skies :smiley:

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