I'd like to share Rogerio Marcon's spectrum of the Nova made in Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil this last week. Our spectroscopy group has been studying and reducing data every time he has a new one.
I wonder why I can'f find photometry data about Nova Cen 2013. I found just a little on the AAVSO site. It would certainly help us understand the events happening in this intriguing nova.
Your groups work has not gone unnoticed Congratulations to everyone involved, these are currently the only amateur high resolution spectra of this nova available.
I'm not really sure why there is so little photometry. It is still very bright which I think makes it difficult for aperture photometry, we might see more data come through as it gets dimmer ... maybe? In general, I think it is a hard target for photometry and spectroscopy at the moment.
The nova has faded again during the last 24 hours. The colour was much lighter than yesterday and I have difficulty describing it, but my best estimate was a light blue-pink colour.
The nova had a deeper colour this morning, with more of an orange-brown hue. The nova was only slightly fainter than it was on 18th Dec.
Does anybody have (or can recommend) a chart that shows a broad area around the nova,shown with the magnitudes marked of nearby stars, so that I can estimate the Nova's brightness when using binoculars?
Here's the binocular chart I generated from the AAVSO. It's oriented similar to how the stars appear directly after sunset, you will need to rotate it slightly clockwise later in the evening.
The two bright stars are beta and alpha centauri from left to right.
The range of magnitudes on the marked stars should be good for the novas current brightness. You'll need a different chart as it gets dimmer.
The nova is brighter this morning (estimate mag 4.5) and is just visible with direct vision in the moonlight. The colour is lighter again, mainly blue but with a pink/oranage hue.
Thanks for all those charts guys.
Yep, this one is a real roller-coaster. I thought Nova Delphini 2013 was the most amazing astronomical experience, but this one blows it out of the water.
The colour of the Nova is deeper this morning, still bluish, but with a stronger tint of orange/brown. I estimate it as being Mag 4.6.
There was a slight haze, which probably explains why I could not see the Nova without using binoculars.
I always use a 102mm (F 6.3) Kson reflector with a Meade 20mm eyepiece (wide angle, 67 degrees, from memory) when judging the colour. I notice that when I occassionally used a radian, the Nova appears to take on a slight deeper hue.
Does anybody have any thoughts on what eyepiece types/brands render the most accurate colours to the observer?
Today, I estimate the Nova to be aprox Mag 4.5 and it was just visible with direct vision in the moonlight. The colour seems to have lighten. As a generalistation, I would normally say the colour is blue with an oranage hue, but today I would say that it is white with a yellow heu.
The Nova has no change in brightness since yesterday, and I still estimate it to be Mag 4.5, however, the colour seems to have deepened back to it's more charactisic orange hue (I thought it look yellow yesterday).
The Nova is declining in brightness: I estimated as being at Mag 4.7 this morning around 3am. I did not check the colour, as sleep was a more appealing option at the time. Now that I am fresh, I wish I had checked. Lol.
At 4.45am, I again estimated the Nova to be Mag 4.7-4.8 and was just visible to the eye.
The colour was a litte darker, more orange than my previous observation.
A bit late this morning, I observed when the sky was brightning at 5.10am. There seemed to be no significant change in Mag, but I did not complete my observations because light cloud hampered my viewing.
The nova appeared to be somewhere between 5.0-5.2 mag this morning at 2.15. It has faded appreciably since I last observed it. The Monsoon has been here so I have had no luck with the weather. (One does not even bother to go outside when waking up at the appropriate time, one hears rain on the roof).
The colour seemed a bluish-pink, but as it is fainter, it is becomming more difficult to detect.
Congratulations to everyone involved, these are currently the only amateur high resolution spectra of this nova available.
