VY canis Majoris?

[JJDOBBER79 (Jas)]

Hi there,
just wondering, is it possible to see VY with a 6" dob. I would like to observe this. I believe its in canis major? Is this a target that can be seen by a southern observer?

[Rob_K]

Yep, it's quite a bright star (mag range 6.5-9.6 V) so easily seen in your 6" dob. At the moment, Canis Major is rising in the east for you at around 1:30am.

Here's some info on it from the AAVSO's VSX:
http://www.aavso.org/vsx/index.php?v...l.top&oid=5196

VY CMa is a slow irregular variable, type LC which means it's an irregular variable supergiant of late spectral type. AAVSO doesn't have any observations in its database since early July when it was mid-mag 8s. Probably not much different now. Good luck!

Cheers -

[JJDOBBER79 (Jas)]

Thanks Rob,
1.30am is a bit boring. Maybe I can wait for this one. Plenty more to see in the meantime I got up at 3am on Sunday morning and saw andromeda for the first time which was awesome but I am still tired 3 days later. definately worth it though.