Mike the core is mag 12.5 the star close by the SN is 13.5 and the Supernova was 14.5,now 15.2 so the chances of observing the Supernova visually were rather slim,needing a 20" IMHO to be certain of an observation.
When it was at it's brightest I couldn't split it with a 3.5 nagler magx522 in my 16" on a good night.
Cheers
