Smallest aperture to see the supernova?

[Nik271]

I decided to start a new thread with this challenge: What is the least aperture of scope or bins that you manage to see sn2023ixf in M101? As far as I see the current best is a 70mm refractor, by @John.

I've managed 120mm Mak, 100mm refractor and 20x80 bins on successive nights. Supernova is currently mag 11, so within reach of 60mm in good conditions. Any takers?

Sadly I gave away my 15x 60 bins, so next in my equipment is 10x50 bins which is a bit of a tall order.

We are blessed with clear skies for the next few days, I'll give it a try anyway.

[Stu]

I’ll give this a try with the FS-60C or Q if I can.

Well done @John for your observation 👍

[Stu1smartcookie]

I am pleasantly surprised at @John 's  use of the 70mm frac to view the sn2023ixf . . Can't wait to try it for myself ( weather permitting) tonight . 

[badhex]

Weather not looking too clever here at the moment but I'm hoping to get out soon -  this will be my first observation in months so a great target to try and bag! 

[John]

Got it again with the 70mm refractor tonight. Conditions not quite as good and the SN was a bit harder and needed more magnification (50x or so) but it was definite. I suspect the SN magnitude is about the same as last night.

 

[AstroKeith]

Great skies tonight and M101 almost at the Zenith.

102FL Vixen. Easy.

80mm ED Orion. Just.

100mm Miyauchi binos x36. Quite easy, but missed the magnification of the Vixen.

15x70 binos - just possibly, but not certain. Would have to say no.

15x50 IS Canon - No.

Street lights go off at 1am, I'll try again.

[Nik271]

I had a cunning plan - look at the supernova with my 100mm refractor and then start stopping it down until I  can no longer see it.

The night was clear, all was set and ready to go, I even had same great views of the Moon just after sunset.

But I fell asleep waiting for astro darkness. 💤

[Nik271]

23 hours ago, badhex said:

Weather not looking too clever here at the moment but I'm hoping to get out soon -  this will be my first observation in months so a great target to try and bag! 

Good luck, its definitely worth seeing in any aperture! The supernova is roughly halfway between 9-th magnitute HD122601 and 10.4 magnitude TYC 3852-274-1, and a bit fainter than the latter.

 

[markse68]

Spent about an hour trying to identify it last night with my 6” from bortle 4-5 but gave up. I was looking in the right area- starsense got me there and confirmed with star pattern in finder/skysafari but could see no trace of M101 and struggled with star pattern in ep (20mm). So i think i probably did “see” it but couldn’t identify it. But that doesn’t really count does it haha. Goto with platesolving would have been a godsend or being better at starhopping…

Mark

 

[Nik271]

I tried again twice with 20x80 binoculars and barely spotted it with averted vision, I think my transparency plus the moonlight makes it very hard with small aperture especially when you can't see M101.

Here is my star hop, which does not rely on the visibility of M101:

 

First go 4 bright stars from Mizar in the direction of Alcor then then past the parallelogram to reach 9-th magnitude HD 122601:

 

Then idenitify a triangle of 10-th magnitude stars about half a degree east. The supernova is about midway between the brightest of the three and HD122601.

It makes an equilateral triangle with HD122601 and 8-th magnitude HD122865.

 

 

Happy hunting!

 

Edited May 28, 2023 by Nik271

[markse68]

Thanks Nik- very useful- will hopefully have another attempt tonight

Mark

[John]

This sketch by a member of the CN forum might be useful. I saw a couple more stars than it shows with my 70mm refractor, but only just !

 

 

 

[josefk]

Hi @markse68 Nik's directions above (sp. the bracketing stars) got me there Friday night and to double down on confidence in the ID i found this chart useful the next day (to compare to a field sketch):

[markse68]

14 hours ago, John said:

This sketch by a member of the CN forum might be useful. I saw a couple more stars than it shows with my 70mm refractor, but only just !

 

 

 

Hi John, do you know what fov this sketch was? It looks quite different to this sketch also from CN. I’m struggling…

 

edit- I see both star patterns in the chart- the ep views are just very different fov- this last one is 150x. And was through a 14” newt. So the chart and all these sketches are newt view? Edit just noticed the compass markings on the chart so these are all refractor view 🤦‍♂️ no wonder i couldn’t match the stars. This is newt view 

Edited May 29, 2023 by markse68

[John]

8 hours ago, markse68 said:

Hi John, do you know what fov this sketch was? It looks quite different to this sketch also from CN. I’m struggling…

 

edit- I see both star patterns in the chart- the ep views are just very different fov- this last one is 150x. And was through a 14” newt. So the chart and all these sketches are newt view? Edit just noticed the compass markings on the chart so these are all refractor view 🤦‍♂️ no wonder i couldn’t match the stars. This is newt view 

Sorry I should have said - I'm refractor only currently 🙂

I was going to have a go at the SN with my 100mm last night but cloudy things spoiled that.

Maybe tonight 🤞

[Nik271]

I just came back after a Moon session followed by a look at the SN with my 100ED refractor. At 30x  I could not see it. At 40x it was showing up in brief moments with averted vision. Finally at 50x it was visible with direct vision. Somehow looked fainter than last time but it could be just the moonlight. M101 was not visible. I didn't even try with the  20x80 bins.

[John]

I've just managed to see the SN with my 102mm ED Vixen. Not a particularly transparent sky. The SN was much easier to hold with direct vision at 47x than it was at 28x. I reckon it is still around magnitude 11.

M101 was just visible as a faint blur of light.

Shows how good the skies were when I was observing on Jersey a few nights back - the 102mm here tonight is making hard work of showing a similar view to that which the 70mm showed on Jersey. M101 was actually slightly better with the 70mm on the island.