Bright New Nova In Delphinus — You can See it Tonight With Binoculars

Bright New Nova In Delphinus — You can See it Tonight With Binoculars
August 14, 2013

Looking around for something new to see in your binoculars or telescope tonight? How about an object whose name literally means “new”. Japanese amateur astronomer Koichi Itagaki of Yamagata discovered an apparent nova or “new star” in the constellation Delphinus the Dolphin just today, August 14. He used a small 7-inch (.18-m) reflecting telescope and CCD camera to nab it.

Several hours later it was confirmed as a new object shining at magnitude 6.8 just under the naked eye limit. This is bright especially considering that nothing was visible at the location down to a dim 13th magnitude only a day before discovery. How bright it will get is hard to know yet, but variable star observer Patrick Schmeer of Germany got his eyes on it this evening and estimated the new object at magnitude 6.0. That not only puts it within easy reach of all binoculars but right at the naked eye limit for observers under dark skies. Wow! Since it appears to have been discovered on day one of the outburst, my hunch is that it will brighten even further.

www.universetoday.com...

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Possible Bright Nova in Delphinus
Thursday, August 15, 2013

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Nice! I just bought a telescope at a yard sale that I want to try out.

The aliens are coming in a Nova They must have one burn't out headlight on that Chevy..

reply to post by MariaLida


Thanks for posting that as well as the links for the exact location. I have cloudy skies tonight, but hopefully it will continue to brighten over the coming days and I get a chance to view it.

Vince

I would hope NASA would be pointing the Hubble at this as well as other large observatories so we can see how it expands and look for whatever else they like to know about stars.

This is a fantastic opportunity to learn more about super nova's, gonna go see if I can see this now.

hey, cool! thanks, it's in the darkest part of the sky here right now. Gonna go have a peek.

reply to post by MariaLida


Thanks for the information and the link.

I just went outside with my binoculars, and I think I must have seen it, but it gets a little difficult with hand-held binoculars. However, I did manage to "star hop" my way up from Altair, using the constellation "Sagitta" as literally an arrow "pointing the way" to what I'm pretty sure was the potential nova.

Put it this way: I'm confident I had my binoculars looking in the correct location, but there were several objects in the field of view that could have been the nova. One of them must have been it.

While I was out with my binoculars, I took the opportunity to spin around (not quite 180°) to check out the Andromeda galaxy, which is always nice to view with binoculars. If you could find a way to steady yourself while you view (I find leaning back against a wall is helpful), you can view Andromeda for a long time through the binoculars, and begin to see some detail -- even with just with a relatively decent pair a binoculars.

reply to post by MariaLida


Thanks for posting this. I grabbed my binoculars and headed outside. The moon was setting, and I could see craters! After my eyes adjusted, I think I located the nova. Just looking up at the night sky is pretty awesome and lends perspective. Again, thanks!

Nice find! They say in the article that this may brighten even further.
Anyone know if this could effect the Earth in any way?
Here is some info on the constellation this is in.
www.constellation-guide.com...

reply to post by bluemooone2


As far as I can tell the stars are:
-Alpha Delphini, called Sualocin, is a blue-white hued main sequence star of magnitude 3.8, 241 light-years from Earth.
-Beta Delphini, called Rotanev, magnitude 3.6. and is 97 light-years from Earth.
-Gamma Delphini, the primary is a gold-colored star of magnitude 4.3 and the secondary is a yellow-tinged star of magnitude 5.1. 102 light-years away
Source.

So I am guessing whichever star went nova, went nova long ago and we are just seeing it now. (Object 50 light years away takes us 50 years to see it.) Correct me if I'm wrong someone.

I hope I am also correct to assume that this happened a minimum of 97 years ago and it would take much longer for any debris to get to us. But I personally doubt that will ever happen, so I think we're safe.

Here is possible location



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Originally posted by ShadowLink
reply to post by bluemooone2

 

As far as I can tell the stars are:
-Alpha Delphini, called Sualocin, is a blue-white hued main sequence star of magnitude 3.8, 241 light-years from Earth.
-Beta Delphini, called Rotanev, magnitude 3.6. and is 97 light-years from Earth.
-Gamma Delphini, the primary is a gold-colored star of magnitude 4.3 and the secondary is a yellow-tinged star of magnitude 5.1. 102 light-years away
Source.

So I am guessing whichever star went nova, went nova long ago and we are just seeing it now. (Object 50 light years away takes us 50 years to see it.) Correct me if I'm wrong someone.

I hope I am also correct to assume that this happened a minimum of 97 years ago and it would take much longer for any debris to get to us. But I personally doubt that will ever happen, so I think we're safe.

edit on 15-8-2013 by ShadowLink because: (no reason given)

It wasn't one of those three relatively brighter stars in Delphinus. If it was, they would know which one. Plus, the nova in question is north of those three stars.

It could have been a very dim minor star (dim as seen from Earth), and perhaps previously unknown, and could possibly be even MUCH farther away than those three, maybe even a few thousand light years -- although it's possible it is closer than that.

Image Source

sigh.. an world had died we see it now... hopefully there were survivors....

Originally posted by ressiv
sigh.. an world had died we see it now... hopefully there were survivors....

Well, if it had planets with life, and they were (well) more advanced than us, they likely would know is was coming well before it went nova and 'emigrated.'

If there was life on a planet around that star, and is was as advanced (or less) than we are, well, then . . . no survivors.

Originally posted by ressiv
sigh.. an world had died we see it now... hopefully there were survivors....

But novae and supernovae are also responsible rebirth, and provide the galaxy/universe with the materials and energy to form new stars, new planets, and new life. If it wasn't for ancient novae and supernovae that occurred billions of years ago, we humans would not be here.

All elements heavier than helium were formed inside stars. All of the carbon atoms inside your body were created by stars that went nova several billion years ago. All of the atoms heavier than iron -- the copper in the wires in the computer you are using, the zinc in your body, and the gold in jewelry -- those were all formed the heat and pressure of a supernova explosion.

Not only are most elements made by exploding stars, but those explosions also create shock waves that can provide enough energy to a cloud of cosmic gas and dust to condense in top new stars and solar systems.

So not only did an exploding stars create clouds of cosmic dust and gas that eventually became make many of the atoms in your body and the atoms of much of the stuff around you, but other exploding stars could have been responsible for making the cloud of dust and gas condense into our Sun, the Earth, and the rest of our solar system.

This newly-discovered nova is putting the raw materials for future stars and planets back into space.

Here's a time lapse of 30 minutes of footage I captured of the nova last night (really early this morning technically):

reply to post by MariaLida


And of course this is caused directly by the recognition of dolphins as intelligent beings in India... as above, so below... though I guess it would be more apt if some dolphins had been blown up down here somewhere.

reply to post by MariaLida



Decided the definition of Nova needs to be dropped, as many seem to be misconstruing this event...

A nova (plural novae or novas) is a cataclysmic nuclear explosion in a white dwarf star. It is caused by the accretion of hydrogen on to the surface of the star, which ignites and starts nuclear fusion in a runaway manner. Novae are not to be confused with supernovae or luminous red novae. A nova is a sudden brightening of a star. Novae are thought to occur on the surface of a white dwarf star in a binary system. If these two stars are close enough, material from one star can be pulled off the companion star's surface and onto the white dwarf.

It's getting brighter! Amateur astronomer Ian Musgrave reports:

I saw nova Delphinus with the naked eye just now! Averted vision, but I could see it under light polluted skies, cloud came over before I could get the camera out! Definitely brighter than mag 4.8

Originally posted by Hijinx
reply to post by MariaLida

 

Decided the definition of Nova needs to be dropped, as many seem to be misconstruing this event...

A nova (plural novae or novas) is a cataclysmic nuclear explosion in a white dwarf star. It is caused by the accretion of hydrogen on to the surface of the star, which ignites and starts nuclear fusion in a runaway manner. Novae are not to be confused with supernovae or luminous red novae. A nova is a sudden brightening of a star. Novae are thought to occur on the surface of a white dwarf star in a binary system. If these two stars are close enough, material from one star can be pulled off the companion star's surface and onto the white dwarf.

Thanks for the clarification.