Nova in Cas

[Waddensky]

My brilliant sketching skills came up with this. It shows 4 Cassiopeiae and M52, as well as some other field stars helpful in locating the nova at low magnifications.

 

Edited March 19, 2021 by Waddensky

[Pixies]

7 minutes ago, John said:

How long do these usually events last ?

Do we know how bright the star was prior to the outburst ?

Thanks

 

"The position of Nova Cas 2021 precisely coincides with that of the W UMa-type eclipsing variable star CzeV3217, which lies at a distance of about 5,500 light years."

Can't find how bright it is normally. But using the chart builder from AAVSO that Jeremy posted and the same location. By varying the limiting magnitude of the tightest view, it appears to be around 15.5

[mikemarotta]

18 minutes ago, John said:

How long do these usually events last ?

Do we know how bright the star was prior to the outburst ?

Thanks

 

Details from others who know more will follow, but for openers, I believe that this was declared to be a "classic" nova. I think that means that it used up its hydrogen and then collapsed. The collapse resulted in gravitation energy being given off which then excited ("ignited") the left-over hydrogen surrounding the hulk of the dwarf star. And, no, no telling how long it will be visible so far as I know from common news reports. And, finally, it was not known until yesterday, the 18th in Japan. It is truly a new star.

 

[Pixies]

Oh! The clouds have cleared. I'm off outside.

[JeremyS]

38 minutes ago, John said:

How long do these usually events last ?

Do we know how bright the star was prior to the outburst ?

Thanks

 

At their brightest a few days or a couple of weeks. But can take weeks or many months to fade back to quiescence. 
The precursor is thought to be mag 13.5. 

[Pixies]

Success!

Easy to find with binoculars - thank to @Waddensky's brilliant diagram. The 'rhombus' is directly North of the nova, which shows as the East-most point of a triangle to the SSW of the rhombus. Of that triangle [nova, HD220819 (mag 6.6) and HD220770 (mag 7.8], the nova is between mag 6.6 and 7.8

I'm just sorting out some sketches. It was a bit tricky, getting a few minutes between clouds.

[Pixies]

This was the binocular view 10x50 (FOV not shown). Average seeing with some high haze. It shows 4 Cas as part of @Waddensky's rhombus and the triangle below it. Nova is marked. M52 was not visible. 

 

Edited March 20, 2021 by Pixies

[Pixies]

Through ST80 refractor, Baader Hyperion zoom - 24mm. Usual refractor view, North up, West to the left.

 

[Stardaze]

16 hours ago, JeremyS said:

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.

Thanks for the explanation Jeremy that's really helpful. Hopefully Sunday night for me too. 

[JeremyS]

I've placed a short article about the nova on the BAA website here

Includes a spectrum of the nova.

[Nik271]

I got it too, in  a lucky break of the clouds. I was using 20x80 bins. I'm lucky - I could also see M52. The nova appears within 2 arcminutes of  HIP115566 (SAO20610) which at mag 9 is considerably dimmer than the nova. It looked just a touch fainter than the nearby SAO20577 which is mag 7.3, so I estimate  the nova's magnitude to be halfway between mag 7 and mag 8, 

Edited March 20, 2021 by Nik271
added an estimation of the magnitude

[John]

21 hours ago, Waddensky said:

My brilliant sketching skills came up with this. It shows 4 Cassiopeiae and M52, as well as some other field stars helpful in locating the nova at low magnifications.

 

Thanks to the above excellent finder chart from @Waddensky  and a surprise cloud break. I have just managed to see Nova Cas 2021 with my 11x70 binoculars !

I had about 20 minutes before being clouded out again so after picking up the nova I whizzed around the sky with the binoculars and managed to spot:

M81 and M82 in Ursa Major

M44 and M67 in Cancer (nice to get this fainter open cluster in the crab)

M42 in Orion

M 35 and NGC 2392 in Gemini (pleased to get this well known planetary nebula)

M 41 in Canis Major

And that's it for this evening I suspect - thank goodness for binocular astronomy

 

Edited March 20, 2021 by John

[mdstuart]

Got it. The rhombus is easy to see. M52 in my 11 x 70s was just visible with the triangle of stars below that including the nova.

Thanks for the charts.

Mark

[John]

Clear patch again. Nova somewhat quite easy now and M52 is also visible glowing faintly with the binoculars.

I think its an evening to keep the binoculars on standby. Not enough clear sky to warrant setting a scope up really.

 

 

 

Edited March 20, 2021 by John

[Stardaze]

Frustrating tonight. The satellite suggests it’s clear but it’s very heavy currently. They’re on standby..

[John]

59 minutes ago, John said:

Clear patch again. Nova somewhat quite easy now and M52 is also visible glowing faintly with the binoculars.

I think its an evening to keep the binoculars on standby. Not enough clear sky to warrant setting a scope up really.

 

 

 

I told a little fib there - just enough of a clear patch appeared so I bunged the 4 inch refractor out for a quick gander at 30x. Quite a busy starfield with the additional aperture and magnification. Using nearby stars I'd estimate that the nova is in the mid magnitude 7's as well.

Huge wall of cloud now rolling in from the NW so the scope is coming back in. Grab and go astronomy - you can't beat it under UK skies

 

Edited March 20, 2021 by John

[Stu]

4 minutes ago, John said:

Quite a busy starfield with the additional aperture and magnification. Using nearby stars I'd estimate that the nova is in the mid magnitude 7's as well.

That’s what I found last night John, quite confusing initially but obvious once you’ve identified it.

Cloudy here....

[Pixies]

The forecasts are suggesting clear skies here after midnight.

This is starting to remind me of the nights spent persuing comet Neowise, last summer.

[Stardaze]

Clear outside now forecasting a good single hour at 1am. It’s not been reliable all week 🤔

[John]

6 minutes ago, Stardaze said:

Clear outside now forecasting a good single hour at 1am. It’s not been reliable all week 🤔

The good thing about this one is that, with the help of the charts and sketches in this thread, it is quite easy to find in binoculars. So you only need a smallish clear patch of sky to be in with a good chance

 

 

[Stardaze]

4 minutes ago, John said:

The good thing about this one is that, with the help of the charts and sketches in this thread, it is quite easy to find in binoculars. So you only need a smallish clear patch of sky to be in with a good chance

 

 

Fingers crossed, I’m going to stick it out (have new binos to use too) but from here now the view might be ruined by a tree, see if I get lucky.

[Paul M]

I noticed the sky improving about 10pm so decided to set up the Mak 127 on the EQ6. Nothing is simple though.

Had to break everything down off the Big Gun, cameras, and cables....won't need the dew bands will I....

So 2 hours in and I still haven't got a look at the nova. Currently got the dew bands on turbo trying to de mist the fully fogged primary. It's never done that before. The corrector is already clear. Luckily the sky is improving all the time.

I will get this nova tonight!!!

[Davey-T]

Have to catch it as soon as it gets dark enough here before it disappears into S, London light pollution, clouds every night so far.

Dave

[Littleguy80]

After a long evening of cloud watching through the window, I gave up and went to bed to read around 12:30am. 10 minutes or so later my eyes were feeling heavy. Decided to have one last look out the window and was thrilled to see stars. Dashed outside with the 10x50s and quickly found the Nova using @Pixies excellent sketches as a guide. Then grabbed the 80mm refractor. I had an APM UFF 30mm arrive yesterday. I managed a brief first light with it last night. Was very pleased to use it to get my first telescopic view of the Nova. It’s only the third Nova I’ve seen. The first was in Scutum in 2017, followed by one in Perseus in 2018. The clear spell lasted all of 10 mins but that’s all I needed.

I really love these type of events and their accompanying threads on SGL. I enjoy the sense of a shared experience that will pass most of the world by. 

Thanks to @JeremyS for the heads up,@Pixies for the sketches and everyone else for sharing the experience!

[davhei]

4 hours ago, Littleguy80 said:

After a long evening of cloud watching through the window, I gave up and went to bed to read around 12:30am. 10 minutes or so later my eyes were feeling heavy. Decided to have one last look out the window and was thrilled to see stars. Dashed outside with the 10x50s and quickly found the Nova using @Pixies excellent sketches as a guide. Then grabbed the 80mm refractor. I had an APM UFF 30mm arrive yesterday. I managed a brief first light with it last night. Was very pleased to use it to get my first telescopic view of the Nova. It’s only the third Nova I’ve seen. The first was in Scutum in 2017, followed by one in Perseus in 2018. The clear spell lasted all of 10 mins but that’s all I needed.

I really love these type of events and their accompanying threads on SGL. I enjoy the sense of a shared experience that will pass most of the world by. 

Thanks to @JeremyS for the heads up,@Pixies for the sketches and everyone else for sharing the experience!

Fantastic description, made me smile. Think you put it beautifully with the shared experience, that is an aspect I haven’t reflected on but it is certainly very much so.