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0020 hrs AEST Mon 20-1-2014 (1420 hrs UT Sun 19-1-2014)
There was a haze over the entire sky this morning. Along with the poor transparency, the fainter stars were lost to visual observation. The hazy conditions had scattered the light from Brisbane's LP dome higher into the sky. Along with the scattered light from the Moon it made viewing a little more challenging. On the other hand there was less to distract the eye when comparing the nova to other stars of similar brightness. The Moon phase was at 90% Waning Gibbous.
Unaided eye - Not seen.
7x50 Binoculars - To my eyes V1369 Cen (Nova Cen 2013) was at App Mag 5.3 this morning. It appeared to be a little brighter than HIP 66849 (at Mag 5.37) but not quite as bright as HIP70035 (at Mag 5.21). There was no obvious colour when observed through binoculars. Due to the poor transparency, I decided to split the difference in making my visual assessment of the apparent magnitude.
The images attached to this post are from Starry Night Enthusiast V 6.4.3 planetarium software.
Thanks for your feedback Jon. Your comments and chart regarding oscillations in V1369's magnitude were helpful. It has been an interesting ride keeping tabs on the nova (my first). My wording regarding inconsistant visual observations could have been better chosen. I should have typed 'Could this indicate', instead of 'This seems to highlight'. That is what happens when posting a report at silly times in the morning.
Thanks to RobK and Von Tom for sharing your images. It is good to see some colour in images taken with longer exposure times. I have to be content with Starry Night for records of my observations.
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