Nova in Cas

[JeremyS]

According to ATel 13904, the 12.9mag (unfiltered with V zero-point) optical transient TCP J00114297+6611190 was identified on 2020-07-27.9302 UT by S. & K. Korotkiy and spectroscopically confirmed as a Fe II type classical nova on 2020-07-29.025 with the 2.5m Sternberg Astronomical Institute telescope by the team of Kirill Sokolovsky.

Nova Cas 2020 has coordinates (J2000.0): R.A. 00 11 42.96 Decl. +66 11 20.8

Observations and spectroscopy urgently required. An AAVSO chart and sequence are available.

Interesting to note that the discovery images were obtained with a 135mm f/2.0 telephoto lens + SBIG ST-8300M CCD camera

[John]

Sounds like a job for the 12 inch dob tonight

Thanks Jeremy

[Philip Benson]

Managed to image this with ease last night.  I will try for a spectra tonight.  Where do we send or post observations/images to?

[JeremyS]

1 hour ago, Philip Benson said:

Managed to image this with ease last night.  I will try for a spectra tonight.  Where do we send or post observations/images to?

Great stuff, Philip!

You can submit your measurements of the magnitude to the BAA Variable Star Section Database whose page is https://britastro.org/photdb/. Notes on Submitting Observations here. And details, including how to get a login access (required to upload your obs, but not to review all obs already in the database), here.

Note that we don't collect images, only the photometry from them.

[andrew s]

37 minutes ago, JeremyS said:

Great stuff, Philip!

You can submit your measurements of the magnitude to the BAA Variable Star Section Database whose page is https://britastro.org/photdb/. Notes on Submitting Observations here. And details, including how to get a login access (required to upload your obs, but not to review all obs already in the database), here.

Note that we don't collect images, only the photometry from them.

Similarly calibrated spectra can be submitted to the BAA spectroscopy data base.

Regards Andrew 

[JeremyS]

1 hour ago, andrew s said:

Similarly calibrated spectra can be submitted to the BAA spectroscopy data base.

Regards Andrew 

Indeed; that is accessible here.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Might have a go tomorrow, either imaging or visual

[bomberbaz]

has anyone got a more detailed chart of the location of this please, maybe something that shows where it is in relation to a bright star for star hopping purposes?

[markse68]

54 minutes ago, bomberbaz said:

has anyone got a more detailed chart of the location of this please, maybe something that shows where it is in relation to a bright star for star hopping purposes?

Would be nice if you could search in Sky Safari using coordinate input 

[JeremyS]

2 hours ago, bomberbaz said:

has anyone got a more detailed chart of the location of this please, maybe something that shows where it is in relation to a bright star for star hopping purposes?

You can print charts from the AAVSO website using the link in my first post. If you select the "Plot another chart", you can select wider fields, but it can be quite slow for very wide fields. You'll then have to match with a regular star atlas. 

Note that you can also plot charts that are mirrored if you are using a diagonal.

[markse68]

Does this look right?

Edited August 4, 2020 by markse68

[markse68]

It took quite a while but i’m certain i found the flying V asterism and with averted vision could make out some fainter objects in the vicinity. So i’m pretty sure some photons from the nova did enter my eye. Does that count? 😬

[bomberbaz]

I have found the triangle astrerism, it falls into the 1.2 degree centre circle of a telrad. @markse68 your spot on with your finding of HD724, thanks.
Steve

[Philip Benson]

I found it by aiming firstly to one of the bright naked eye stars in the 'W' of Cassiopeia and then using SGPs 'Solve and Sync' feature to make sure the star was in the exact centre of the FOV. I then manually entered the RA and Dec as given on the AAVSO chart into my APCC mount control software and then took a 1m exposure. I then simply matched the stars in my image with those on the chart and rotated the camera until I had more or less the same orientation as in the chart.  At that point the nova was obvious.

The plan now is to use my Star Analyser 100 filter with Tom Fields excellent RSpec software to get the spectrum of the nova.  I can calibrate that first by using a prominent A type star such as Vega. 

[Cosmic Geoff]

I imaged this late on 6 Aug with a 102mm f5 Startravel refractor, Celestron SLT mount and ASI224MC camera.  I used GoTo to aim the telescope, then plate-solved to check position and re-aim the telescope. 

On plate-solving again it was clear that I had found the nova, as it showed on the platesolved image as a non-catalog object whose position exactly matched the co-ordinates for the nova.  The lightly processed image is shown below.