Novae Hunting

[mark81]

So I've always been after a project that I can really get into and for a while I thought about comet hunting, but the size of scope, the directions and times on observations would make it far too difficult.  I then came across an article about George Alcock and his work hunting for Novae.  Most Novae hunters use hand held binoculars it said.... Perfect. Hundreds if not thousands of hours observing... Great. Detailed drawingings, hundreds of sketches and committing thousands of stars to memory... What's the catch?!  

So after lots of thought and planning I began my journey last night.  I realise it will be a very slow journey and having a clear method and detailed plan will help, but I would like to know if anyone here does it, has tried it, what happened etc.  And of course any advice, comments, opinions all welcome...

Mark

[Davey-T]

I'd think it would be easier to have a list of galaxies to scan regularly rather than trying to memorise every star in the sky especially if you're doing it entirely manually rather than capturing a lot of images and scanning them with blinking software.

There was one recently in M82 and there's a Supernovae  ATM in NGC3254.

There's also a few dedicated web sites around the world specialising in searching.

Dave

[paul mc c]

Will you be observing them visually with the scope in yur sig.

[mark81]

17 minutes ago, paul mc c said:

Will you be observing them visually with the scope in yur sig.

I'm going to be using the ST80, 10x50s and 8x40s

[paul mc c]

Most nova are very faint,and in can be very hard to observe,even in much larger scopes,but it is a great project,one i have thought about many times.

[Paul73]

Good luck Mark. Things have moved on a bit since Mr Alcock’s day. Although, what a truely astonishing memory he had!

Amateur discoveries certainly still happen, but they tend to be though harvesting masses of data and comparing  images.

Coosing a couple of dozen targets to sketch and then periodically revisit for changes might be your best bet.

I look forward to reading about your progress.

Paul

[Paul73]

Mark

You might find this interesting. It is the bulletin board for Nova & Supernova discoveries. Loads of links too:

http://www.rochesterastronomy.org/supernova.html#MASJ120755.95+650647.8

Paul

[mark81]

1 hour ago, Paul73 said:

Coosing a couple of dozen targets to sketch and then periodically revisit for changes might be your best bet.

This is sort of how I'm am approaching it. Each and every session I will check the F.O.Vs I have sketched and methodically add new one...? .... Yes, that's it.

Once I've got my drawings and a few hours experience, I'll post some pics and updates...

[Astro Imp]

Good luck with the hunt Mark.
Will be interesting to see how you progress.

[lukebl]

I've been interested in hunting for supernovae too, but got disheartened when I realised how much methodical time and effort the fanatical hunters put in! With automated imaging systems and software to identify any suspicious objects, they can search for these objects whilst they're asleep.

Take the legendary Koichi Itagaki from Japan for instance (seen below), who discovered the latest supernova 2019np in NGC3254. He's 'only' an amateur but lives for his craft has discovered scores of supernovae. How many monitors does a guy need!

There's a few top hunters in the UK too, despite our vile weather. Personally, on the rare occasions when we get a clear night, I'm usually imaging or viewing something particular, rather than searching for new ones on the offchance.  But it's defintely worth a try!

I can make a genuine claim to have independently discovered a nova though. Back in 1975 as a teenager, I went out one summer's evening and noticed an additional star, about mag 3, in Cygnus. I had no contact with any other astronomers, so I rang up someone from the local Astronomical Association who rather dismissively said that they couldn't see anything odd. I think they didn't think a snotty teenager could know anything! Next day, it was brighter than mag 2 and was later formally given the name of Nova Cygni 1975 or V1500 Cygni. I'm sure I was one of the first to see it, but didnt submit a record as I didn't know how.

[mark81]

36 minutes ago, lukebl said:

I've been interested in hunting for supernovae too, but got disheartened when I realised how much methodical time and effort the fanatical hunters put in! With automated imaging systems and software to identify any suspicious objects, they can search for these objects whilst they're asleep.

Take the legendary Koichi Itagaki from Japan for instance (seen below), who discovered the latest supernova 2019np in NGC3254. He's 'only' an amateur but lives for his craft has discovered scores of supernovae. How many monitors does a guy need!

There's a few top hunters in the UK too, despite our vile weather. Personally, on the rare occasions when we get a clear night, I'm usually imaging or viewing something particular, rather than searching for new ones on the offchance.  But it's defintely worth a try!

I can make a genuine claim to have independently discovered a nova though. Back in 1975 as a teenager, I went out one summer's evening and noticed an additional star, about mag 3, in Cygnus. I had no contact with any other astronomers, so I rang up someone from the local Astronomical Association who rather dismissively said that they couldn't see anything odd. I think they didn't think a snotty teenager could know anything! Next day, it was brighter than mag 2 and was later formally given the name of Nova Cygni 1975 or V1500 Cygni. I'm sure I was one of the first to see it, but didnt submit a record as I didn't know how.

That's anamazing story. ?

Come to think of it, I better find out who to ring IF I ever see anything suspicious....