Naked Eye Nova Erupts in Centaurus

[kochu]

Something happening behind the clouds

http://www.universetoday.com/106932/a-n ... centaurus/

Kochu/5-12-13

[weixing]

Hi,
Too bad it's daytime for us...

Have a nice day.

[starfinder]

Nova Centauri 2013 is now still brightening and at around mag 3.6, which makes it the brightest in recent years (since 1999), see:
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ ... Way_galaxy

Its light curve is here:
http://www.aavso.org/lcg/plot?auid=000- ... an=&vmean=

I've checked a planetarium program and it shows that the nova would be at around 15 degrees above the horizon in the south from Singapore at 6am these days.

Nova Centauri 2013 is near the bright star Beta Centauri. Here's a good finder chart:
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-4_k9cTOiKCU/U ... _Chart.png

Must try to catch this one!

[starfinder]

I managed to view and image Nova Centauri 2013 this morning, Saturday 7 December 2013 at around 6am, from here in Singapore city.

Through a 15x50 binoculars, the nova was easily seen about 1 degree above beta-Centauri (Hadar) and appeared whitish. I did not manage to view it without optical aid; it was then about 14 degrees above the horizon in the SSE.

Based on the reported light curve at the AAVSO website (link in my post above), the nova was then probably just a day past its peak maximum brightness, and at around mag 3.9.

Here is an image taken at the same time. Canon EOS 60D ISO800 5s, with an SMC Pentax-A 50mm 1:2 lens at f/4.

The constellation Crux (Southern Cross) can be seen in the top right of the main image. In the insert, the nova is above centre, and mag 0.6 beta-Centauri (Hadar) is below centre.