Nova in Cas

[Paul M]

It's a dud here tonight and I'm up for work at 6am anyway so waiting for darkness at 11pm is a big ask! 

Great = a circumpolar nova!

Not so great = fast approaching solstice!

 

[PeterW]

Not so great(2)= it’s getting fainter quite quickly.

Peter

[John]

Still clear here and I have the 100mm frac out so I'll take a look in a few minutes.

 

[Captain Scarlet]

Broken cloud here more cloud than clear and totally covered in Cass direction

[Stu]

Just had a quick look and same here, clear patches but not where needed!

[Pixies]

Clear here, apart from some high hazy cloud. Sky is still a little too bright too. Feeling hopeful for later now.

[laudropb]

Clear here but still not dark enough to observe.

[John]

I managed to get some observations of the nova through cloud gaps using a 100mm refractor.

Comparing the brightness with stars in the same field, the nova seems not far off the same brightness as the star HIP 115691 which is listed as magnitude 6.6. I think I'd estimate the nova at magnitude 6.3 perhaps ?. So the nova might have dropped a magnitude since I last observed it on Monday 10th May.

I'll be interested to see if anyone else who sees it tonight concurs or differs with my estimate ?

(I'm not that experienced in making such estimates )

Edited May 15, 2021 by John

[Pixies]

Yep - I agree with @John. The nova's brightness is very similar to HIP 115691 (HD 220819) and also HR 8881 (in the 'trapezium). The 2 stars are listed at mags 6.6 and 6.4 in SkySafari. So I'll put my estimation at 6.5

So the poor weather has meant I missed the brightest few days!  

 

[JeremyS]

News overnight from Japan on VSNet reports a rapid fade. Data from Itoh-san

May 14, 6.11V

May 15, 6.95V

 

[laudropb]

Finally got a brief view about 12:30, but still some light in the sky making magnitude estimating difficult. Thought it to be about 6.6 so quite a rapid drop in progress.

[HollyHound]

There was a period of about an hour yesterday late evening, with minimal cloud in the West through to North East.

I had gone out primarily to look at the moon and a few doubles (Castor etc), with the latest grab and go addition to the Tak family (normally this area of the sky is behind our house so ability to relocate was essential).

Remembered this thread and so grabbed the binoculars too and had a look. With the help of the drawings/charts from here, I was able to locate it in the 8x56 and then take a look with the Tak as well 👍

Unfortunately I don’t have the experience yet to estimate it’s magnitude, and the sky was still relatively bright too.

Still glad to have seen it and joined the Cas(a)Nova club 😃

Edited May 16, 2021 by HollyHound

[JeremyS]

Joust updated the BAA VSS lightcurve, which shows the decline well

[Stu]

SGL version here with latest updates from last two nights.

[John]

Hopefully I'll get another look tonight. Fairly clear here currently.

 

[JeremyS]

Good luck John.

[John]

I feel that Nova Cas v1405 has faded a little more from this evenings observations.

The closest match from the surrounding stars was with HD 220167 which is listed at magnitude 7.15 or 7.18 depending where you look.

To my eye the nova is dimmer than the nearby star HD 220819 (mag 6.6) but still brighter than the mag 7.8 HD 220770 which is close to Messier 52.

So I'd settle for mag 7.0-7.2 for the nova tonight.

 

[JeremyS]

Binoculars or Tak FC 100, @John?
 

[John]

2 minutes ago, JeremyS said:

Binoculars or Tak FC 100, @John?
 

Ooops !, sorry Jeremy I should have said. 100mm refractor @ 37.5x magnification.

 

 

 

[Captain Scarlet]

I just had a quick look (2348) before bed as the clouds have cleared. Through my 15x56 bins, I had it as very very slightly dimmer than HD220057, which is mag 6.94. So a smidge over or perhaps just at 7.0 .

Cheers, Magnus

[laudropb]

Nice clear skies here and the seeing is very good. Using Ed 120 frac I estimated the nova now to be at mag 7.2

[John]

Going, going .......

Another day or so and it will be back at the mid mag 7's which is where it was when I first observed it on the 20th March.

Plus, Messier 52 has never had so much attention !

Edited May 18, 2021 by John

[Pixies]

I got a clear spell around 1am and managed to get an observation using 10x50 bins. Fainter than HD220819 and slightly brighter than HD220770, it looked very similar to HD220057. I'd say 7.0

[laudropb]

Another lovely clear night here. Some lovely views along the terminator on the Moon. Will have to wait until midnight before it is dark enough to observe the Nova.

[Stu]

No go here, quite hazy and clouds over the nova. I’ll update the graph in the morning with any observations posted tonight.