Supernova AT2021yaf

[Mike JW]

I saw this SN in the list on the Skytools 4 software and the other night when looking at SN 2021wuf in NGC 6500 (see earlier post by Martin) I gave it a go.

At the time I had no idea if I was in the right area until today when I have spent time cross referencing to star charts/DSO images.

There were so many stars in view that there was no way I was going to spend observing time tracking it down. It does not lie in an obvious galaxy. Looking at DSO images of the area it would seem to coincide with a faint tiny fuzz patch.

What a lark and test of scope alignment and syncing to actually get this "little white dot" in a view full of other little white dots.

Mike

[Martin Meredith]

A very satisfying lark though! I'm personally loathe to take automation too far. It would be no fun to select an object and have it perfectly centred and labelled each time...

I see you using linear stretch here which is perhaps why the host galaxy isn't visible?

Martin

[robin_astro]

Nice capture but note that AT objects are not necessarily supernovae (in fact most probably are not). To be confirmed as a supernova it needs to have spectrum taken. In this case it turns out to be a Cataclysmic Variable (a dwarf nova) in outburst in our own galaxy. You can see the classification on the Transient Name Server (where AT numbers are generated and where, if they do turn out to be supernovae, the name is changed to SN yyyyabc , the point at which it officially becomes a supernova

https://www.wis-tns.org/object/2021yaf

 

Cheers

Robin

Edited September 28, 2021 by robin_astro

[Mike JW]

Thanks Robin - much appreciated. Always something to learn.

Mike