[Shark Bait (Stu)]

0200 hrs AEST Wed 25-12-2013 (1600 hrs UT Tues 24-12-2013)

A partially clear sky this morning after showers earlier in the evening. It has been five days since I last observed Nova Cen 2013, so I have missed the lastest round of dimming and increase in brightness. Brisbane's light dome is not as obvious tonight and the 59% Waning Gibbous Moon is behind cloud.

Unaided eye - Just visible. If you were casually scanning the sky and did not know the nova was there it would probably be missed by suburban dwellers.

7x50 Binoculars - To my eyes, Nova Cen 2013 is close to Mag 4.3 this morning with just the slightest hint of colour. At the moment, it looks to be on par in brightness with HIP70069 (Mag 4.28) which is marked in red on the attached Starry Night screen grab. I am using SN Enthusiast so I cannot plot the location of the Nova itself.

Edit: At 0250 hrs it is almost clouded out. Lucky to see it when I did.