Between June 3 and June 5 comet Boattini glided along the edge of Puppis, then passed into Canis major. Around June 5 or thereabouts, 15 degrees away from Baottini, star
USNO-A2.0 0450-03360039 exploded and became a naked eye novae, with an estimated peak magnitude of around 4. But apparently nobody noticed. The actual date (and magnitude) is back extraploated from x-ray observations on October 2007, by ESA's
XMM-Newton telescope.
During the time the nova was bursting on the scene, dozens of Australian amateurs must have been focused on the area around Puppis as they watched Boattini. Could I ask anyone who has wide field images of Boattini (that could cover the 15 plus degrees that the Nova was from the comet) from between say June 3 to June 15, especially around June 5, to
please check their images for signs of the Nova at
07 05 42.51 -38 14 39.4 (epoch 2000 co-ordinates, see attached map). If you find anything, please let the AAVSO know.
Cheers! Ian