Nova in Cygnus

[Ron]

I can't find it

I thought I would try this morning but my skills are a little rusty, I'll explain later

This image was taken at 04:56 EDT, FOV approximately 37 degrees by 24 degrees RA 19' 43" Dec 32 19
North is up West is left

http://www.fototime.com/%7B30682301-A07B-4FA5-8B30-B7B09670188F%7D/picture.JPG

Image is not in perfect focus because I didn't have time to recheck since the clouds were moving in fast and I wanted to get a shot off as quick as I could.
Conditions were some what hazy.

Is the Nova still there or am I to late

Ron

[twilbur]

I'm pretty sure you've got it Ron!

The bright star is SAO68730.
Slightly below and torward the right in your image are 2 more bright stars, one blue, the other reddish.
The reddish one is the nova.

[Ron]

Ted



Is this it?

Seems a way off of the co-ordinance    But that object doesn't show up in my SN

Thanks,

Ron

[Ron]

Ted,

You are RIGHT



I finally got my orientation to match Dr. Clay's image and I can plainly see the Nova now

The above image is a crop of a single 20 sec, iso 800 with the color removed and re oriented to match Dr. Clay's image.

The part of my post that I was going to explain yesterday was mainly about equipment.   I haven't used my telescope for quite sometime since the last three star parties were clouded out, and I have temporarely lost my usual storage spot in the garage and my telescope isn't readily available to use as it has been in the past

When I set the scope up yesterday the date was a month off so I reset the date and time but I put in the 13th instead of the 14th   I also had forgotten to update my camera to Daylight Savings

I went ahead and let the scope acquire a fix and was wondering if the GPS fix would have corrected the date?   Also, how long does the scope keep  the correct time and date?

Ron

[twilbur]

Wow, that's the sorriest batch of excuses I've heard in a long while...   
http://www.conlinhill.com/wasnt_my_fault.wav

My ancient LX200 keeps the time and date forever, it just needs a few seconds adjustment every 6 months or so.
I also would have thought that the GPS would sync the time.  So much for modern technology...

Nice capture on the nova Ron! 

[Ron]

Wow, that's the sorriest batch of excuses I've heard in a long while...   

Yep that's funny, I should have added a few more

I hope I can get another shot in a few days.

Thanks

Ron

[Ron]

Update



Maybe I will give the Nova a week and see if there are any changes

Ron

[Ron]

I wanted to observe the Nova today but the sky was partially cloudy with plenty of haze.

Now that I have the correct approximate, sounds like an oxymoron, co=ordinance RA 19 43 21.2 Dec 32 20 09 I wanted to see what the Nova looked like in my eyepiece.  I had been using the co-ordinance Ra 19 43 Dec 32 19, but that didn't put the Nova in the center of the FOV of my eyepiece even though it did put the Nova in the FOV of my camera.

Looks like I will have to wait for a few days since the weather is turning cloudy here in Tampa Fl.  I hope the Nova is still there since I hear it is dimming 

Ron

[twilbur]

From your images it looks like it's dimming.

[Ron]

My new coordinates put the Nova almost in the center of my camera's FOV



I finally got to look at it through my 18mm wa ep and with my eyes it looks just about as bright as TYC2660-1754-1 at a mag 10.25, the bright star down and to the left of the Nova.  I put in a 1.6 barlow and the bright star down and to the left may be just a tad brighter than the Nova.  I don't know what tad is equal to in mag 

I'm terribly disappointed with either my camera or telescope.  The stars in my pictures look like V's.  I don't know if something has happened to my optics or what

Any Ideas would be appreciated.

Ron

[twilbur]

It's definitely getting smaller.
Sorry about the trouble, if you were on a GEM or wedge I would suggest a polar alignment problem, but I know you're alt-az.

Does the problem appear even on very short exposures? Have you tried other parts of the sky?
Tracking speed set to Lunar or something like that?

[Ron]

Ted,

I'm pretty much confused about the shape of the stars.  At first I thought some of the stars close to the edge of the FOV was just coma, but now the V shaped stars are even in the center.  I have seen misshapen stars like these in a few frames when I'm taking a series images that I suspect is due to the tracking, but the stars in the  majority of the images are mostly round unless I'm getting elongation due long exposures.  In my case long exposure in my alt/az is anything over 20 secs.

I will take this discussion either to the equipment or processing forum with a couple of images of the misshapen stars.  I will have to do more experimenting with the different areas of the sky as you say, and camera settings to see if I'm getting the same thing.  The only major difference in my setting up now is the scope is stored in the house instead of the garage.  I'm wondering if cool down time would have anything to do with the V shape stars?

Ron

[roccodm]

Great shots guys- it made it real easy to id visually with the printed photos in hand-love the lx90 not really had good seeing as of yet but what i have seen is satisfying- quite a diffence from the 5 inch AR5 as far as brightness goes-should be a nice scope to sketch from-  i put the bob knobs on as was suggested here- clear skies to all rocco

[Ron]

Thanks  Rocco,

It was exciting for me to try and identify the Nova but I wouldn't have been able to if I hadn't received some help from the forum members.

Hope you get some clear skies to get some sketching done.

Ron

[Ron]

 

This is not scientific, at least for my methods, but Nova (V2491 Cygni) has dimmed considerably



Even looking at it in the eyepiece it appears to be much dimmer than it was seven days ago on Apr 23rd

Ron