[Shark Bait (Stu)]

0400 to 0435 hrs AEST Sun 29-12-2013 (1800 to 1835 hrs UT Sat 28-12-2013)

A clear sky this morning which was unexpected considering the overcast conditions from earlier in the night. The current Moon phase is at 18% Waning Crescent.

Unaided eye - Just visible from my suburban sky with twilight well underway.

7x50 Binoculars - Nova Cen 2013 is currently at Mag 4.0 to 4.1 with no obvious colour, probably due to the brightening sky.

This morning I tried something different to get an accurate gauge on the magnitude of Nova Cen 2013. I waited for the morning twilight to wash out the sky and let the stars used for comparison fade from sight. The nova was definetely brighter than HIP70069 (Mag 4.28) and Lamda Crucis (Mag 4.59). Nova Cen 2013 was still visible along with Mu1 Crucis (Mag 4.0) at 0435 hrs local time when the fainter stars were washed out and lost from sight. Mu1 Crucis is circled in red on the attached Starry Night screen grab. I am using SN Enthusiast so I cannot plot the location of the Nova itself.