Nova in Sagittarius Brightens! (To Naked Eye Magnitude)

Sky & Telescope ^ | March 20, 2015 | Alan MacRobert

[messierhunter]

The nova that erupted in the Sagittarius Teapot on March 15th has continued to brighten. It's now about magnitude 4.9, in easy binocular view before dawn. Anyone see it naked-eye yet? Update Friday March 20: It's still brightening — to about magnitude 4.9 as of last night! That's a magnitude brighter than at the nova's discovery five days earlier. No telling when it will stop. And, Sagittarius is getting a little higher before dawn every day.

[messierhunter]

I wasn't able to see it by eye myself this morning, but I was also scrambling to get the picture after I accidentally pulled the power on the telescope. A quick reset and resync got me back up and running just in time before dawn to get this 5x1 minute image stack of the nova in color:

HDR image processing was performed in IRIS.

If you have a chance, check it out tomorrow morning. It was still increasing in brightness as of this morning, so it might even be easier to see by eye tomorrow morning.

[left that other site]

Nova Ping

[Red Badger]

How many light years away?...............

[AppyPappy]

That is a little scary

[messierhunter]

I haven’t seen any official figures, but given its location near the galactic bulge, and the spectral type of Fe II common to bulge stars, it’s probably thousands of light years away around the galactic bulge.

[messierhunter]

No need to be worried, this is just a classic nova, not a supernova, let alone a nearby supernova.

[Red Badger]

[Red Badger]

Then we’re safe..............

[The Cajun]

Thanks for the info, if it gets any brighter, might have to drag the old refractor out.

[skyman]

Good photo.

Why does it seem like the best stuff is always just before dawn. I’m not the morning person I used to be :-)

[The Cajun]

Thanks for the star chart, should be easy enough to find, in fact very easy.

[Radagast the Fool]

“With an armful of this stuff, I wouldn’t be afraid of a supernova!”—Lt. Sulu, Wolf in the Fold, Star Trek

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks left that other site, extra to APoD.

[mountn man]

ping

[mountn man]

Nova Ping

[left that other site]

My Aut had one of those. Different color though!

[left that other site]

“Aunt”.

[exDemMom]

I wish I could, but it is cloudy... and I think a nova would have to be extremely bright to be visible through clouds.

Besides, when I try to look at constellations in the sky, the helpful lines are always missing so I don’t know where to look.

[9thLife]

nice work.

[DUMBGRUNT]

Tanx!