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thanks, Ron, for the interesting observation.
It does seem, from your observation, that the SN at present is not really an easy object, even for a 16 inch.
I had always thought that a visual magnitude limit of about 15, for a ten inch telescope, was a reasonable figure which is in accord with reality , as per Bradley E. Schaefer's often cited investigation of telescopic magnitude limits in this paper: (1990), PASP, 102, 212
As a 16 inch has 2.5 times the light gathering power of a 10 inch, that ought to add another one magnitude to this limit (that is, a limiting magnitude of magn. 16), but Schaefer's detailed investigation finds that this is a little optimistic.....his figure 1 gives something closer to 15.75 magnitude as a realistic limit for a 16 inch.
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