Nova in Eridanus

[mithrandir]

This came in this morning. Something else to add to the observing lists?

This is an AstroAlert from Sky & Telescope.
November 29, 2009
by Roger W. Sinnott
An 8th-magnitude nova was discovered on November 25, 2009, by Koichi Itagaki of Yamagata, Japan. The new star lies in northeastern Eridanus, 6.9 deg west-southwest of Rigel. In an e-mail sent late on the evening of November 28th, Sky & Telescope Senior Editor Alan MacRobert writes, "Just spotted the nova in my 10x50 binocs on their wooden shoulder frame. Barely visible through the bright moonlight at about mag 8.4."

The find was announced on CBET 2050, issued November 25th by the Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Itagaki was using an 0.21-meter (8.3-inch) patrol camera, but within 15 minutes he secured a confirming image with an 0.60-meter reflector. The nova lies at right ascension 4h 47.9m, declination -10deg 11' (equinox 2000.0).

Soon thereafter, Ernesto Guido and Giovanni Sostero of Castellammare di Stabia, Italy, captured the nova with an 0.25-meter f/3.4 reflector operated by Global-Rent-A-Scope near Mayhill, New Mexico (see the image above). They found it to have an unfiltered CCD magnitude of 8.2 on November 26th near 8:40 Universal Time.

...

[citivolus]

This nova should be a very easy target right now.

Edit: My earlier position comments were apparently my own mistake in converting positions between epochs :) Link (http://www.skyandtelescope.com/resources/proamcollab/astroalert/78087492.html) to original article

Also, if you have shots of this region from the last two weeks, it apparently peaked around magnitude 5.6 which would have it quite visible.

AAVSO finder chart here (http://mira.aavso.org/cgi-bin/vsp.pl?action=render&name=VSX+J044754.2-101043&ra=4+48+25&dec=10+09+49&charttitle=&chartcomment=&aavsoscale=Choose&fov=60&resolution=100&maglimit=12&dss=on&othervars=&chartid=&Submit=Plot+Chart).

[mozzie]

thanks guys ill have a look when the clouds clear
mozzie

[seanliddelow]

On WIKISKY.ORG (http://www.wikisky.org/) I have spotted a star very very close to the novas position. The co-ordinates are 04:47:54.21 -10:10:43.1. Heres a link to a page on the star USNOA2 0750-01104110 (http://server6.wikisky.org/starview?object_type=1&object_id=739301614). The star is slightly brighter in the red end of the spectrum but its almost equal in the blue end. This is unusual especially for an N-Star (Which are usually strongly red). I hope this post helps any of you guys. The star is Mag 15.35,

Heres an image from WIKISKY.ORG

[citivolus]

There has been mention made to a magnitude ~15 star being found at that location on reference images. It has been mentioned in calculating the overall magnitude increase of the nova of 9.5 to its peak of 5.6. I suspect that this is the star that you are seeing, as it is consistent with the data.

[mithrandir]

I can't get CDC to show a UCAC3 designation, even though I have the catalog configured. It lists the closest object to the observation report as:

GSC 5325-1837 Visual Magnitude: 14.76
Mean J2000 RA: 04h47m54.175s DE:-10°10'43.00"

which is probably the same star.

For reference, the nearest moderately bright stars in other catalogs, both less than 1' away, are:

TYC 5325-1928-1 Visual Magnitude: 8.22
Mean J2000 RA: 04h48m02.895s DE:-10°35'24.15"

GCV HU Eri - Magnitude: 9.05 - 9.19
Mean J2000 RA: 04h46m 11.7s DE:-10°13' 20"

[Lismore Bloke]

I think you have it Andrew. if you type GSC 5325-1837 into the Aladin interactive atlas, the image compares very closely with the AAVSO finder chart.

[seanliddelow]

They are probably the same stars although they have bad magnitude errors. I guess its strong in the red because it has strong Nitrogen emissions and in the blue because of strong Oxygen emissions. The sky and telescope report mentioned it as a Nitrogen-Oxygen star.

[Terry B]

This is an interesting star. The mag change is a bit low for a typical nova. I have done a few hours of time series on the star and it has a slow sinusiodal variation in its brightness over about 3 hours of 0.04 mag in V.
see http://users.northnet.com.au/~bohlsen/Astronomy/000-BJR-847.gif

This is also quite unusual. It certainly needs more investigating.

[bojan]

It was visual 9.16 on the day I managed to take a shot (14/12/2009).
Unfortunately, weather here is not helpful (or I am too tired.. )