Possible bright nova in Centaurus - PNV J13544700-5909080

[Shark Bait (Stu)]

0250 hrs AEST Thu 23-1-2014 (1650 hrs UT Wed 22-1-2014)

60% cloud cover with large gaps between the clouds to the South. Brisbane's LP dome was not as intrusive this morning although the 65% Waning Gibbous Moon was. Tonight, light reflecting from the Moon was washing out the light pollution form Brisbane City.

Unaided eye - Not seen.

7x50 Binoculars - To my eyes V1369 Cen (Nova Cen 2013) was at App Mag 5.2 this morning. It was closer to HIP70035 (at Mag 5.21) in brightness than other nearby comparison stars. There was no obvious colour when observed through binoculars.

Another satellite passed from the East travelling to the West through my 7 degree field of view while observing V1369 Cen. Once again, this satellite doesn't show up in Starry Night Enthusiast. I will have to try to find better satellite software so I can give these objects a name.

The images attached to this post are from Starry Night Enthusiast V6.4.3 planetarium software.

[von Tom (Tom)]

Nova Cen 1st Feb from Brisbane. Beta Cen is the bright star.

[cometcatcher (Kevin)]

She's starting to blend in with the background stars now.

Just a quick 30 second shot between rain showers this morning. Unmodified Pentax K-x, 6" F5 newt. It's the middle one.

[von Tom (Tom)]

2 months' images of Nova Cen 2013 with a light curve from AAVSO.org
Canon EOS 600D, 200mm f/4, ISO 6400, 10sec exposures.

[von Tom (Tom)]

Good one Kevin - the weather hasn't been too kind hey?

Definitely getting fainter. Soon we'll be able to compare magnitudes with the stars in the same field.

[von Tom (Tom)]

On the 18th Feb:

[h0ughy (David)]

Originally Posted by von Tom

2 months' images of Nova Cen 2013 with a light curve from AAVSO.org
Canon EOS 600D, 200mm f/4, ISO 6400, 10sec exposures.

wow what a result - the picture sure does tell a story