Nova in Scorpius!

[Akarsh Simha]

Hi folks

I just found out that a new, naked-eye nova has been reported in Scorpius! I managed to go get a glimpse of it outside. It's pretty bright and should be visible to the naked eye from city skies as well. I'm able to see it from Austin (Texas, USA) downtown without averted vision, so it's very conspicuous. I think it should last sufficiently long, so you can give it a try tonight, maybe around midnight IST, if the skies are clear. Please let me know of any reports.

Here is a radio announcement from the McDonald Observatory: http://stardate.org/radio/program/scorpius-nova

Most advanced observers should just be able to spot it by looking at Scorpius. For beginners, locate the easternmost three stars of Scorpius, and you'll find a fourth one north of it. That is the nova. It looks yellowish to the naked eye, not sure if that has some astrophysical significance. Hopefully, Rakesh and others can tell us more.

I've attached a finder chart to help. If you use KStars, you can key in the current equatorial coordinates: RA (J2015.2) 16h 12m 30s, Dec (J2015.2) -18° 57' 54".




Regards
Akarsh

[Akarsh Simha]

Hi

I managed to set up my smaller 6" telescope and have a look at it. It seems to be an epsilon aurigae type variable! (More info here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epsilon_Aurigae#Nature_of_the_system). Even in my 6", with sufficiently high power, I can seem to see the presence of some structure of dust partially obscuring the object! Careful observation shows that the dust actually is glowing mildly by itself (not as bright as the main object), but one can see a thin dark lane in the dust. I hope you have some clear skies in Bangalore because this is a must see object. In fact, I think I will set up my 18" this weekend to show it to my friends. Will report on how that goes.

Regards

Akarsh

[Rakesh Nath]

On Tue, Mar 31, 2015 at 10:25:22PM -0500, Akarsh Simha wrote:
>Hi folks

>
>Scorpius. For beginners, locate the easternmost three stars of Scorpius,
>and you'll find a fourth one north of it. That is the nova. It looks
>yellowish to the naked eye, not sure if that has some astrophysical
>significance. Hopefully, Rakesh and others can tell us more.

Yes, yellowish to naked eye! That obviously means it has some sort
Tellerium heavy element outer envelope.

I think this would be great if Northern hemisphere astronomers see it.

I would look for it before the day ends, because this specific reaction
is very spontaneous, which will burn out within a day(more or less
accounting for time dilation etc.)




--
Regards
Rakesh Nath
"It is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring." Carl Sagan

[adarsha joisa]

Ah! Now I remember spotting it a couple of days back. I was able to locate the dust structure with the dark lane as you said! :D

[adarsha joisa]

Hi Akarsh!

Thanks for the heads up! The past couple of days has been completely cloudy in Bangalore, with not a patch of sky visible! :( I'll try setting up my 5" early tomorrow morning if the weather permits. I hope the dust structure is visible! :) It seems to be nova season these days! A couple of weeks ago, I was able to spot the Nova in Sagittarius, and now another one right next to it! When I started reading your post, I thought you were referring to the Sagittarius Nova, but later realized it's a new one! And thanks for the finder chart! It's a great help.

On Wednesday, April 1, 2015 at 8:59:46 AM UTC+5:30, Akarsh Simha wrote:

[Akarsh Simha]

> Ah! Now I remember spotting it a couple of days back. I was able to locate
> the dust structure with the dark lane as you said! :D

The dark lane is not easy to see, is it? Someone told me that there's
a second dark lane -- I think I saw it the last time the variable
brightened, under excellent seeing, with an 18" from city :D. That was
definitely not an easy observation.

Regards
Akarsh

[Akarsh Simha]

> Yes, yellowish to naked eye! That obviously means it has some sort
> Tellerium heavy element outer envelope.

Rakesh, I never really thought about the yellow color. A google search
and I found out that the yellow color is because of Ammonia,
apparently.

Regards
Akarsh

[adarsha joisa]

Not easy at all! :D I've only been able to spot it under very good seeing! Never been able to spot the second one, though! :( 

[Akarsh Simha]

I need to repeat my observation of the second one. That is way too
elusive. Exceptional seeing + tube cool down is mandatory.

But every time I go observing, when there are faint galaxies and
clusters and the like, any epsilon-Aurigae type variable novas get
ignored.

Regards
Akarsh

[Harshad RJ]

On Wed, Apr 1, 2015 at 12:51 PM, adarsha joisa <adarsh...@gmail.com> wrote:

Haha!!! Can't believe that I fell for that!!!

​Me too; good one Akarsh!

Totally didn't suspect it until a few moments ago.

--

Harshad RJ

[keerthi kiran]

Hey,

There are some more updates. Looks like the new nova is also showing debris around the parent object!!

Thanks and Regards,

Keerthi

Regards
Akarsh

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[Sundar M N]

Hello PPL,

Just coming in, the radio telescopes have picked up strange signals prior and after to this explosion. And scientists have to say that it belongs to an advanced civilization that probably sent out a SOS prior to collision!!! 

The newly received radio pulses are peculiar, they say, and might be a new class of object!!! More updates expected once the birds have vacated the antenna!!!

 

Regards,
Sundar.M.N





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