Clear Skies and a New Supernova

[Littleguy80]

Clear skies forecast for tonight. A new supernova has been reported at mag 13.2 in a good position:

Very much looking forward to getting out. The scopes are ready and waiting...

[Paz]

Good luck! Whereabouts is the supernova and is it known how long will it stay above mag14?

[Littleguy80]

1 minute ago, Paz said:

Good luck! Whereabouts is the supernova and is it known how long will it stay above mag14?

Forgot to add the link. Just edited the post above with it  

[Paz]

Clear skies here but can't afford to get tired from a late night this early in the week so I'm hoping this might still be on at the weekend.

[MarsG76]

Nice... judging by your EQ mount (if set correctly) you must be near the equator....

[Littleguy80]

4 minutes ago, MarsG76 said:

Nice... judging by your EQ mount (if set correctly) you must be near the equator....

I have VERY dark skies with the dust cap on...

[MarsG76]

8 minutes ago, Littleguy80 said:

I have VERY dark skies with the dust cap on...

in that case there is no doubt, haha

[Paul73]

Even with the moon, it has to be worth a go. 

Thanks for posting.

Paul

[Littleguy80]

The evening didn’t disappoint. Lunar with the dob, seeing was good at 350x! Took me about an hour to find but got the Supernova. Only my second one! Finished with Jupiter in the Equinox 80. It was pretty low but still got the GRS. The alarm is gonna hurt in the morning but fantastic night!

[Paul73]

Well done Neil. That is really good going with 10”. Did you have a clever way of blocking out the moon? 

The SN didn’t exactly leap out of the eyepiece using a 16” here, but a very satisfying spot all the same 😁😁😁. I was very surprised how well the galaxies showed. One oval; one irregular & elongated with the SN just off the end furthest from the bright star. On checking the map, the second galaxy is actually two. So we have a pleasing little triplet of galaxies and a supernova all in one fov!

Re. The moon. Tonight was the first time, in three years of ownership, that I’ve pointed the 16” Dob at the moon. What a view!!! Blown away. However, things started getting a bit wobbly at much above 200x. Only later did I discover that the secondary heater was on full blast the whole time.....

Paul

 

[Littleguy80]

Thanks Paul. It was a combination of being in the shadow of the shed, wearing an observing hood and using an Ortho. Whenever I’m looking for something faint then the Orthos come out  Last night really challenged my thinking on observing when the Moon is out. I didn’t think I’d be able to see the galaxies but they were quite clear. 

I’d intended to use the frac on the Moon until I read John’s report on using his 12” dob on the Moon. After that I couldn’t resist having a play to see how high I could go magnification wise.