Possible Nova in Delphinus

[Guest]

Unless we get a late evening thunderstorm again skies will remain clear tonight. Latest reports show the nova starting to dim slightly.

[william-kowalczyk]

Great pics! I don't think I'm getting my telescope out again tonight; it's getting dimmer; it was a good nova. Nice work Michael

[Guest]

Thanks! This was the first time I observed any type of nova. Had a "blast" doing it. Lol. I think I might go back out tonight just to get some final pics. Not sure if I will add them to the blog.

[rene-gedaly]

Finally clear for me last night, that is, early this morning. Spotted nova (!), with 10x50 binoculars, facing west from my driveway, around midnight - 1 a.m., moon no problem due to trees. Sure looked like better than mag 5 to me based on surrounding stars shown in Pocket Sky Atlas. Sagitta pretty much points directly there though I had to kinda know where it was since only bright stars I could see naked eye in that region were Deneb and Altair. First nova; very excited. Worked on AL Urban Observing program since I was up.

[william-kowalczyk]

Light curve shows that the output has flattened in the mag 4.5 range. Good estimate of brightness Rene!

[Guest]

Rene thats some fine magnitude estimating.

Decided to make tonight the last night i photograph the nova. Unless something dramatic happens. I was able to tell that it was not as bright. I wont even try to guess the brightness Lol. The lower the number the brighter it is right???

Anyway, took some more photographs at 300mm and finally got them to come out. Turns out that I was moving to much the other nights, so that was transferred to the camera via the shutter release remote I was holding. Lesson learned. Slowly I will try and identify the other stars in the image. But I was very happy I finally got a pic of the thing at 300mm. Lol

[rene-gedaly]

Thanks, guys, for the compliment but I cheat when estimating I compare the mags of nearby stars as printed on the star chart I'm using and guesstimate whether it's brighter or dimmer.

[william-kowalczyk]

That's pretty much the AAVSO technique. A little more to it, but not much