I’m still excited about this as it is the first nova that I’ve seen. It is in a well known region of the sky, and real easy to find with any size binoculars. This shaky picture was taken a few minutes ago with a mik-en-druk propped up against a windowsill and set to 15" exposure. The HIP star (to give an idea of the nova’s brightness) has a magnitude of 4.5. So the nova is still pretty bright - I’m guessing about mag 4. Should be interesting to see it gradually fading away during the next week or so.
Alas, here in Centurion we have been having Cape winter weather. It has been cloudy and rainy for weeks. I missed the comet, and it looks like I’m going to miss the nova. Next thing we’ll have Beutelgeuse go supernova and I’ll miss that too…
That is awesome, I’ll try and spot it tonight.
with the little I know about the universe, I would venture that if Beutelgeuse or Alpha Centauri go supernova…you’ll not miss it but won’t know what hit you…
If Beutelgeuse goes supernova you will see it during the day. I don’t think Alpha Century is big enough to go supernova.
4 O’clock tomorrow morning is a better time. It will be under the horison early evening, but I also have a cloud problem.
What makes it even more frustrating is that even during the holidays, I tend to wake up at four in the morning. Fat lot of good it does me with all this cloud cover.
I’ve heard claims as much. But is it true? Would Betelgeuse take us out?
As far as I know, the gamma-ray bursts that these things throw out are quite narrowly focussed along the axis of rotation of the star. So if we’re on the axis of rotation it could be very bad news indeed. Don’t go out without your umbrella.
Edit: It seems as though we’re safe after all. Here’s what Phil Plait has to say on the subject.
Finally saw the nova at 3 am this morning. Somebody in the neighborhood playing very load rap/techno music all night. What can one do in a case like this? The police come out, they turn the music down for 2 minutes, and the then just crank it all the way back up again. This is not the first time.
Glad you got to see it. In turn, we’ve been plagued by three consecutive cloudy nights. Based on your report, I’ll borrow some Vanilla Ice off the neighbour’s kids to see if it will help along cirrostratus dispersal. ;o)
I cannot even remember what clear skies look like anymore. During the day we sometimes have some good sunshine and blue skies. But morning around 4am are apparently invariable cloudy. Or clear, except in the south-east.