JeremyS 6,737 Posted March 19 Share Posted March 19 Yesterday a nova was discovered in Cas. It’s currently a mag 8 binocular object. More details here: https://britastro.org/node/25814 7 8 Link to post Share on other sites
Waddensky 456 Posted March 19 Share Posted March 19 Very interesting! Bright and well-placed. Link to post Share on other sites
Littleguy80 4,957 Posted March 19 Share Posted March 19 Thanks for the heads up, Jeremy. Could I ask how to use the chart in the link? I’ve often tried and failed to translate those type of charts into something I could relate back to SkySafari. I struggle to identify the larger stars to the find the equivalent star field. Link to post Share on other sites
Waddensky 456 Posted March 19 Share Posted March 19 (edited) 23 minutes ago, Littleguy80 said: Thanks for the heads up, Jeremy. Could I ask how to use the chart in the link? I’ve often tried and failed to translate those type of charts into something I could relate back to SkySafari. I struggle to identify the larger stars to the find the equivalent star field. It's half a degree south of open cluster M52. Quite easy to find when using the right side of Cassiopeia's W as pointers. Edit: here's a zoomable DSS map centered on the correct location. Edited March 19 by Waddensky 2 Link to post Share on other sites
JeremyS 6,737 Posted March 19 Author Share Posted March 19 16 minutes ago, Littleguy80 said: Thanks for the heads up, Jeremy. Could I ask how to use the chart in the link? I’ve often tried and failed to translate those type of charts into something I could relate back to SkySafari. I struggle to identify the larger stars to the find the equivalent star field. Simple way as @Waddensky says: just S of M52. The way to locate is to use the variable star chart link I sent. When that displays there is a link that says Plot Another Chart. You can then choose the scale you prefer. If you chose chart scale A you get this 15 deg view. You can compare that chart with a star atlas and see that the brightest star (marked 23, i.e. mag 2.3) is beta Cas, and star 35 (mag 3.5) is iota Cep. 2 2 Link to post Share on other sites
Littleguy80 4,957 Posted March 19 Share Posted March 19 All excellent, that helps a lot. Thank you both very much! Looking clear early on this evening so hopefully will get a chance to try and spot this 3 Link to post Share on other sites
John 35,614 Posted March 19 Share Posted March 19 43 minutes ago, Littleguy80 said: All excellent, that helps a lot. Thank you both very much! Looking clear early on this evening so hopefully will get a chance to try and spot this Hope you get it Neil Not looking clear at all here otherwise I'd be planning to do just the same. Thanks for the "Heads up" Jeremy Hopefully it will stay bright enough to observer for a few days. 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites
JeremyS 6,737 Posted March 19 Author Share Posted March 19 Latest data I’ve seen have it at mag 7.9 Looks like Sunday might be my first chance. 1 Link to post Share on other sites
John 35,614 Posted March 19 Share Posted March 19 3 minutes ago, JeremyS said: Latest data I’ve seen have it at mag 7.9 Looks like Sunday might be my first chance. Same here 1 Link to post Share on other sites
Stu 31,376 Posted March 19 Share Posted March 19 Might be able to give it a go in binos or perhaps the 150p. Could be clear tonight Link to post Share on other sites
Waddensky 456 Posted March 19 Share Posted March 19 (edited) Just went out with the 10x50 and I found the nova! It's easy to locate using the rhombus-shaped asterism including 4 Cas, its minor axis points roughly to Nova Cas 2021, close to HD 220819 (mag 6.6) and a bit farther from M52. I am no variable star observer by a long shot, but to my eyes, it looked brighter than HD 220770 (mag 7.8) but not as bright as HD 220167 (7.2). Edited March 19 by Waddensky 7 Link to post Share on other sites
JeremyS 6,737 Posted March 19 Author Share Posted March 19 7 minutes ago, Waddensky said: Just went out with the 10x50 and I found the nova! It's easy to locate using the rhombus-shaped asterism including 4 Cas, its minor axis points roughly to Nova Cas 2021, close to HD 220819 (mag 6.6) and a bit farther from M52. I am no variable star observer by a long shot, but to my eyes, it looked brighter than HD 220770 (mag 7.8) but not as bright as HD 220167 (7.2). That’s excellent. Well done I was thinking that rhombus might be a good indicator 1 Link to post Share on other sites
ScouseSpaceCadet 1,685 Posted March 19 Share Posted March 19 Really excited about viewing this. Lots of thick grey cloud here the last two nights though. There may be a window of opportunity tomorrow. Thanks Jeremy. 1 Link to post Share on other sites
Littleguy80 4,957 Posted March 19 Share Posted March 19 Had a brief go at this but was beaten by cloud while I was trying to figure out the star field. Scope is still outside in case it clears out again. Great observing @Waddensky, your description is very helpful! 1 Link to post Share on other sites
davhei 279 Posted March 19 Share Posted March 19 I visually estimated it at 8.1 this evening at 18:20 UT. Seems to be brightening. Will be fun to follow. 1 Link to post Share on other sites
Stu 31,376 Posted March 19 Share Posted March 19 Well you lot are better than me! I’m in the right field, I think, with the 150p and I’m blowed if I can identify it. Any pointers on this chart appreciated! Newt view, 2.2 degree field Link to post Share on other sites
Stu 31,376 Posted March 19 Share Posted March 19 Think I’ve got it now... near SAO20610? Link to post Share on other sites
davhei 279 Posted March 19 Share Posted March 19 Here is an aavso-chart of the same area. Note the long chain of stars-asterism at 7 o’clock. The nova forms a nice triangle with the 90 and 91 stars. 2 1 Link to post Share on other sites
Pixies 1,584 Posted March 19 Share Posted March 19 2 minutes ago, Stu said: Think I’ve got it now... near SAO20610? Yep - that's where my SkySafari-Fu gets me too. Link to post Share on other sites
John 35,614 Posted March 19 Share Posted March 19 Good to hear of the successes with this one Unrelenting cloud here, unfortunately. Link to post Share on other sites
Pixies 1,584 Posted March 19 Share Posted March 19 Link with pic: https://www.nao.ac.jp/en/news/topics/2021/20210319-nova.html 1 2 Link to post Share on other sites
Stu 31,376 Posted March 19 Share Posted March 19 52 minutes ago, davhei said: Here is an aavso-chart of the same area. Note the long chain of stars-asterism at 7 o’clock. The nova forms a nice triangle with the 90 and 91 stars. Thanks very much, that’s a very useful chart and confirms I did see it To me it looked the same brightness as HD220720 which is mag 7.8. M52 was basically invisible to me at low power in the 150p with 24mm Panoptic. Popping a 12.5mm BGO in allowed me to see it with averted vision, and going to 6mm helped a little more but it still required averted vision for the stars to pop nicely into view. Limiting magnitude through the scope with the 24mm was somewhere around mag 9.9 I think, whilst most of the M52 stars are 10. something or dimmer. Nice to have caught the Nova at the first opportunity. Thanks very much @JeremyS for the heads up! 5 Link to post Share on other sites
Pixies 1,584 Posted March 19 Share Posted March 19 Apparently mag increased from +9.6 to +7.5 (today) in one day https://astronomynow.com/2021/03/19/new-nova-in-cassiopeia-brightens-rapidly/ 1 Link to post Share on other sites
JeremyS 6,737 Posted March 19 Author Share Posted March 19 There’s a pic of the nova and M52 by the BAA’s Nick James: https://britastro.org/observations/observation.php?id=20210319_220341_0251041a729b7935 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites
John 35,614 Posted March 19 Share Posted March 19 (edited) How long do these usually events last ? Do we know how bright the star was prior to the outburst ? Thanks Edited March 19 by John 1 Link to post Share on other sites
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