Astroblog: Nova Delphinus 2013, 26 August

Monday, August 26, 2013

Nova Delphinus 2013, 26 August


Nova Delphinus 2013 imaged at 10:00 pm ACST from my back yard with my Canon IXUS. 400 ASA 15 second exposure 3 x Zoom (click to embiggen, nova indicated by arrow). it is clearly dimmer than on the 16th, when it was magnitude 4.4.	Nova Delphinus 2013 on the 16th, when it was at its brightest. Imaged at 10:38 pm ACST from my back yard with my Canon IXUS 400 ASA 15 second exposure 3 x Zoom (click to embiggen, nova indicated by arrow)

Nova Delphinus 2013 has faded, and is now around magnitude 6. After days of cloud and rain, I finally had a clear night to view the nova. The nova is still quite clear in binoculars, helped by the current absence of Moon.

Light curve of nova Delphinus 2013 from the AAVSO.

I estimated the nova to be magnitude 6.1 tonight. My reference stars were 18 Sge (M6.1) and BU 363 (M6.2).

The nova is fading slowly, with occasional outbursts. It looks like remaining binocular visible for some time now. So there is still time to see one of the brightest novas for years in our night sky.

Viewing guides are here, and my previous images here, here and here.

Labels: binoculars, nova

# posted by Ian Musgrave @ 11:40 pm

Comments:

Just took a photo up here and the nova is definitely fainter than 6th magnitude. I estimate magnitude by comparing nearby stars as shown in Stellarium. I have a comparison from Aug 7 but none taken since until tonight. I have been using a 14 mm lens to capture large areas to show constellations for star parties that I present here in Sisters, Oregon. The photos are nothing to write home about as the full field is about 90 degrees.

# posted by