So Ron, since you are a supernova seacher, you keep lots of photographic records of those galaxies? My impression is that you need some form of basis to compare the before and after scene when a supernova occurs so that you are pretty sure something has happened.
That's right, you need to have something to compare with to what you see in the eyepiece, I and most S/N searchers have thousands of images.
Give it time, you will find your niech in Astronomy, so just enjoy the jurney.
Ron