possible new nova

[IanC11]

Has anybody else read the news on the SPA's home page.

A possible New Super Nova seen by the Koreans in Cygnus.

Let's hope the skies clear soon.

[IanC11]

Here's the location given

RA 21h 38m 06s.571, Dec +26degs 19' 57".33 ( equinox 2000.0)

easily viewable from the UK after midnight.

[brianb]

Actually it's just over the border in Pegasus.

According to the current information, it's probably a WZ Sge type cataclysmic variable - definitely not a supernova. Officially it's still just an "optical transient". Mag 10.8 at discovery (May 6.77) brightening to 8.4 a day later. Progenitor star (GSC 2197:886) is magnitude 14; a 6 or 7 magnitude range is typical of WZ Sge type cataclysmic binaries but very low for a classical nova.

I'm sure someone somewhere is attempting spectroscopy, that will sort out what type of object it is.