A nova, now designated V462 Lup, was discovered on June 12 by the ASAS-SN survey at magnitude 8.7 and has since risen to around magnitude 5.5. It has apparently not yet peaked. The progenitor star is thought to have been around magnitude 22, and as with all novae, the rapid brightness increase over a few days is impressive (although not as rapid as some).
Lupus, and the nova, are high in the evening sky as shown in this Stellarium screenshot:
The orientation here is at around midnight on June 21 2025 but Lupus is visible from early evening. This Stellarium screenshot shows the region around the nova corresponding to the image at top.
With the help of this AAVSO finder chart I have made a few visual estimates and there is some DSLR photometry pending. The visual light curve as of the early hours of June 21 is shown below with two of my binocular visual estimates in purple, the last one just a few hours ago:
Meanwhile, T CrB is still quiet.
July 3, 2025 at 10:01 pm |
[…] novae (around magnitude 5) in June, so my T CrB talk turned into an update about 3 novae: T CrB, V462 Lup, and V572 Vel. The second and third were the subject of my last two […]