Bright Supernova SN 2020hvf in NGC 3643: anyone had a look?

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

It is reported to be mag 13.5 at the moment and could be interesting.

More info here: http://www.rochesterastronomy.org/supernova.html#2020hvf

[Star101]

It's still light and will be for another two hours.

This has just made my mind up for me regarding a upgrade for my C11. The 16" RC Truss...I think I'm going to be ordering soon lol.

Get up close and personal with a FL of 3250mm. Pick out those Supernova on clear nights.

However, this is now not August, and when dark enough I will slew the C11 over there and check it out

Edited May 7, 2020 by Star101

[John]

Brighter than it's host galaxy. Pity it was not a couple of months back when Leo was better placed.

 

[bomberbaz]

14 minutes ago, John said:

Brighter than it's host galaxy. Pity it was not a couple of months back when Leo was better placed.

 

Well by the time lockdown is lifted to a level that will allow me to travel to dark sky site, it will probably be too low in the sky to see it well or even at all.

I looked on stellarium and the galaxy sits more or less on top of a mag 12 star from the milky way. Wonder how that will affect viewing it if we did get a chance.

[Mark at Beaufort]

Thanks Michael. Hopefully with the Moon starting to be out of the way next week I might have a go at this SN.

[Star101]

yes, I tried 10 mins ago but the moon is too bright. Maybe in a weeks time.

[Mark at Beaufort]

@alanjgreenposted a very useful photo of this SN so hopefully I will go hunting tonight. NGC 3643 is not the easiest of galaxies to locate. Its not shown in the Interstellarum star atlas (which shows it must be faint). However, it is shown in the Uranometria atlas so I am going to start by locating the star Sigma in Leo and Zavijava in Virgo and then the 3 stars  in Leo 84, 83 and 82. If you drawn a line from star 80 to 75 the galaxy is almost in the middle.

[alanjgreen]

I observed 2020hvf in NGC3643 on 28th April. It is very bright and obvious. It was mag 14.9 back then. 

(rotate by 180 degrees to match the view from a dob)

There is also a new SN in M61 (2020jfo) which was mag 14.6 when discovered 2 days ago. It will get much brighter over the next 10 days. Should be even easier that 2020hvf. See

Alan

Edited May 8, 2020 by alanjgreen

[Littleguy80]

I successfully observed SN 2020hvf this evening. I identified it fairly easily at 133x (Lunt XWA 9mm and 9mm BGO). At 200x (6mm BGO) I could see the mag 13.2 next to it which gave me confidence that it was indeed the SN I was seeing. After failing to see 2020ftl a few weeks back, I am extra pleased to get this. It took me a little while to match up the image above to SkySafari. I’ve marked up some stars below as a guide. I was using these as guides to identify 2020hvf.

 

I did hop over to M61 too. However, SN 2020jfo seems to be holding around mag 14.5, putting it out of range for me from home. 

[davhei]

6 hours ago, Littleguy80 said:

I successfully observed SN 2020hvf this evening. I identified it fairly easily at 133x (Lunt XWA 9mm and 9mm BGO). At 200x (6mm BGO) I could see the mag 13.2 next to it which gave me confidence that it was indeed the SN I was seeing. After failing to see 2020ftl a few weeks back, I am extra pleased to get this. It took me a little while to match up the image above to SkySafari. I’ve marked up some stars below as a guide. I was using these as guides to identify 2020hvf.

 

I did hop over to M61 too. However, SN 2020jfo seems to be holding around mag 14.5, putting it out of range for me from home. 

Well done! Was it possible to see the SN2020hvf host galaxy or was it too faint?

Edited May 10, 2020 by davhei

[Littleguy80]

1 hour ago, davhei said:

Well done! Was it possible to see the SN2020hvf host galaxy or was it too faint?

Thank you 😊 No sign of the host galaxy. It’s listed as mag 14.6 in SkySafari so I wasn’t expecting to see it. 

[Mark at Beaufort]

10 hours ago, Littleguy80 said:

I successfully observed SN 2020hvf this evening. I identified it fairly easily at 133x (Lunt XWA 9mm and 9mm BGO). At 200x (6mm BGO) I could see the mag 13.2 next to it which gave me confidence that it was indeed the SN I was seeing. After failing to see 2020ftl a few weeks back, I am extra pleased to get this. It took me a little while to match up the image above to SkySafari. I’ve marked up some stars below as a guide. I was using these as guides to identify 2020hvf.

 

I did hop over to M61 too. However, SN 2020jfo seems to be holding around mag 14.5, putting it out of range for me from home. 

Well done Neil that is very useful. It is interesting that you used a 9mm Lunt a 9mm Ortho and a 6mm Ortho - are you finding that the 9mm and 6mm  BGOs can detect fainter objects?

[Littleguy80]

16 minutes ago, Mark at Beaufort said:

Well done Neil that is very useful. It is interesting that you used a 9mm Lunt a 9mm Ortho and a 6mm Ortho - are you finding that the 9mm and 6mm  BGOs can detect fainter objects?

Thank you, Mark. The BGOs, without doubt, are better on fainter objects. The small FOV can make them tricky to use with my manual dob but they’ve been the difference between observing an object or not on multiple occasions. I noticed this the first time I observed Stephan’s Quintet.

I purchased orthos when I was new to the hobby and wanted good eyepieces on a budget. I hadn’t expected them to outperform the APM and Lunt widefield eyepieces that came later. I recently started a thread on the topic of finding the middle ground of best performance with a wide FOV. TeleVue Delos seemed to be the most recommended for this. 

 

[John]

Well done Neil - good spot and an interesting report

I have often read that good quality orthos are favourite for observing faint objects with big scopes under dark skies. The Baader Classic 10mm and 18mm are really good for this. I felt the 18mm was even a touch better than the Baader GO 18mm in terms of faint DSO spotting when I compared them a few years back.

Tele Vue plossls are pretty good as well - their light throughput is as good as anything else out there.

The Delos eyepieces get very close to the ortho performance in this respect as well.

 

[Littleguy80]

1 hour ago, John said:

Well done Neil - good spot and an interesting report

I have often read that good quality orthos are favourite for observing faint objects with big scopes under dark skies. The Baader Classic 10mm and 18mm are really good for this. I felt the 18mm was even a touch better than the Baader GO 18mm in terms of faint DSO spotting when I compared them a few years back.

Tele Vue plossls are pretty good as well - their light throughput is as good as anything else out there.

The Delos eyepieces get very close to the ortho performance in this respect as well.

 

Thanks John. I remember reading your excellent BCO review whilst trying to decide on a eyepieces in my early days. It led to purchase a 6mm BGO as my first ortho  I only have the 25mm TV Plossl which I bought specifically for observing the Horsehead. It has proved successful for this showing it’s quality! I’d like to try a Delos for comparison. 

[Mark at Beaufort]

1 hour ago, John said:

I have often read that good quality orthos are favourite for observing faint objects with big scopes under dark skies. The Baader Classic 10mm and 18mm are really good for this. 

 

Following Neil's experience and your comments I decided to try the Baader 10mm BCO - so order placed with FLO. I remember years ago having either a Fujiyama or Hutech 5mm Ortho and seeing some fainter stars in a particular area. However, I found the eye lens so small it put me off high mag orthos. I know that the Baader has a larger eye lens so I thought I would have another go. Hopefully, it will arrive for me to hunt the brighter two SNs.

[John]

19 minutes ago, Mark at Beaufort said:

Following Neil's experience and your comments I decided to try the Baader 10mm BCO - so order placed with FLO. I remember years ago having either a Fujiyama or Hutech 5mm Ortho and seeing some fainter stars in a particular area. However, I found the eye lens so small it put me off high mag orthos. I know that the Baader has a larger eye lens so I thought I would have another go. Hopefully, it will arrive for me to hunt the brighter two SNs.

5mm orthos do have very small eye lenses. The Supermonos are even smaller !.

Great performers but very challenging to find the exit pupil in the dark.

 

[John]

I got SN2020hvf a little earlier this evening with my 12 inch dob. Just as you described Neil. A bit brighter than the mag 13 star close to in. No sign of NGC 3643 though.

I've also just managed SN2020jfo in M61. Mush harder at mag 14.4 or thereabouts I think. The host galaxy is easy to find though. Here is where I spotted this one (chart from Stellarium, red blob is where I spotted the SN:

[Littleguy80]

Well done, John! Two supernovae in a night, what a result! I took another look at sn2020hvf this evening. Seemed a bit brighter although conditions were better tonight with no Moon to contend with. I didn’t go back to M61 but will definitely give it another shot later in the week. Thursday’s forecast is currently looking very good. 

[Mark at Beaufort]

I struggled to find NGC 3643 and the star patterns surrounding the galaxy. In the end I downloaded a chart from Stellarium and used my 9mm Myraid to identify the location. I attach the chart that I used - I positioned the galaxy NGC3640 and the star HIP55408 as shown within the Myraid EP. Once there the SN was easy to see and I agree that its brighter than the nearby mag 13 star.

I usually position my 12" Dob at the end of the garden because its totally dark. However, with Leo getting lower I moved the scope close to the house which caused some light pollution problems. However, I still went looking for the SN in Virgo. Easily found M61 but I could not see the stars at the side of the galaxy so I need to return with the Dob in a better place. Hopefully, the Baader 10mm Ortho will arrive this week to try again.

Notwithstanding I was pleased to see one SN.

[John]

2020hvf is still quite bright tonight (as SN's go !). About the same as it was on Monday night I think.

My 12 inch dob, this time with the 17mm 92 degree Explore Scientific eyepiece (94x) showed it and the fainter star close to it quite nicely.

[Ouroboros]

I tried looking for it through bins last night, which was Probably a pretty pointless activity. 🙂  I found where to look quite easily with SkySafari. 

[John]

Just manged to get this with my ED120 refractor. Only the 2nd supernova that I've managed to see with that scope !

If I had not observed it already a couple of times with my 12 inch dob I would have really struggled though. Could not see the mag 13 star that is close to the SN though, at least not more than a momentary glimpse of it. The SN was faint in the smaller aperture but definitely there.

Had to get used to viewing the area with N at the top - that took a while !