Nova TCP J18102829-2729590 in Sagittarius is still on the rise although not at the same rate as a day or so ago. Early days though: these things are unpredictable.
The official AAVSO alert notice was posted overnight: https://www.aavso.org/aavso-alert-notice-560
I have ongoing alignment problems with my LX-90 8″ scope (16 years old) and they caused me enough grief last night that I couldn’t make a visual estimate before the nova was below my fence line. I’ll try again in the next day or two.
Not far from one of my favourite Cepheid variables (W Sagittarii), a nova in Sagittarius was discovered 3 days ago (TCP J18102829-2729590) by Koichi Itagaki of Japan. It has risen from magnitude 11 to 8 in that time.
The plot below shows the 10 visual and Johnson V observations submitted so far to the AAVSO International Database:
Two thirds of the visual observations are from Andrew Pearce in Western Australia. My single observation so far, made tonight, is under the cross hairs at upper right, with Andrew close on my heels. It’s always reassuring when two observations made close in time (less than an hour in this case) by different observers agree, within the limits of precision of the chosen method (visual estimation: approximately one tenth of a magnitude).
Many of my visual estimates of variable stars are made with 7×50 binoculars. Tonight I used my Meade LX-90 8″ telescope (magnification of 82x) because the nova is still too faint for my binoculars. There’s a beautiful asterism near the nova that makes the field hard to miss and makes for an enjoyable observation.
Last night I took images of the nova with the intention of carrying out wide field DSLR photometry, however there’s a star quite close to the nova. When combined with the amount of defocus normally used for DSLR photometry, separating the light from the two stars becomes impractical. So, I haven’t submitted an observation (untransformed) from that imaging run.
I’ll follow this object visually with interest for as long as the weather and my equipment allow.
The nova in Lupus (ASASSN-16kt) continues to decline, having peaked at a visual magnitude of 5.6, declining to 6.5 in less than a day.
The plot shows my two binocular observations before the weather in Adelaide went loopy (as opposed to Lupi), the last under cross-hairs at magnitude of 7.2. It’s now down to around magnitude 9.0.
The sky is clear tonight, and may be okay for a couple more days, so I might attempt some tri-colour DSLR observations. Tonight’s out due to an ASSA meeting. Typical! 🙂
I made a second observation of the nova in Lupus last night (Sep 27). It had faded from a visual magnitude of 6.7 on Monday to 7.2 (both in purple below). Observations since then show a further brightness decline.
I was pleased to see my first observation counted among those submitted by Elizabeth Waagen (AAVSO) for inclusion in “telegram 4322” from the the Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams in Harvard (my first). See the AAVSO alert from Elizabeth for more details.
There was no chance of another observation tonight after the storm here in Adelaide today; no power so no light pollution but no clear sky either. I’d say another day or two will go by before I can observe it again.
Today I submitted an August 22 DSLR observation of the long period eclipsing variable BL Tel to the AAVSO international database.
My observation (9.124 (0.031) V), is shown under the cross-hairs in the images: Visual and Johnson V together and V alone.
Minimum should be happening around about now (~Aug 27).
I have images from Aug 25 that I’ll process this weekend. The conditions were less than ideal, but I managed to get some data before the clouds became a persistent problem.
I hope to take some more images this weekend.
Thanks to Peter Williams for prompting me to consider making observations of BL Tel which is nicely positioned high in the evening night sky now.
I’ve made 10 observations of the nova since March 19, mostly visual, 3 DSLR, one of which has yet to be processed.
The (rather noisy) light curve is starting to show the kind of early oscillations that seem to be common in novae and certainly the last two bright novae I’ve seen. The red fit “line” helps to make this more obvious.
The cross-hairs are over my most recent observation early this morning.
I made visual and DSLR photometric observations of the nova on March 21 and 22. The image below shows the nova before sunrise on March 22.
The light curve shows my most recent submission under the cross hairs.
It appears that the nova has peaked but these objects are unpredictable so we may see some fluctuations yet. The local weather has made observations difficult for the last 3 days.
The conditions at 6am today were not ideal: lots of intermittent cloud, or more accurately, intermittent gaps.
I estimated the nova to be at magnitude 4.9. It was substantially brighter than the 53 comparison star and may even have been brighter than the 47 comparison star (AAVSO chart ID 14582KC).
I marked the observation as “uncertain” (comment code Z on WebObs) and added the comment:
7×50 binoculars;AT LEAST mag 4.9;may have actually been brighter than 47 comp;intermittent cloud
Tomorrow morning, whether permitting, a brighter comparison star may be needed assuming this thing keeps brightening. Getting up early enough to make a DSLR observation would be nice too.
There’s a bright nova in Sagittarius (PNV J18365700-2855420 where PNV = possible nova candidate, its discovery designation).
Like the last bright southern nova (Nova Cen 2013), this one was also discovered by John Seach in NSW.
The nova was discovered on March 15 so it’s early days yet. There are 35 observations in the AAVSO International Database.
I tried to get out to observe it this morning but it was cloudy. When the weather clears I’ll make visual and time-permitting, DSLR observations.
It’s been cloudy here for several days and before tonight, my last estimate of V1369 Centauri was on Feb 10 at magnitude 6.2.
My latest visual estimate tonight (under the cross-hairs above) was magnitude 6.55, with 6.5 and 6.6 comparison stars.