PNV J18202726-2744263 is now Nova Sagittarii 2012 No. 4

[starfinder]

There is another possible nova, reported today. Again in Sagittarius, PNV J18202726-2744263, now at mag. 7.8 which is quite bright.

R.A. 18h 20m 27.26s
Dec -27d 44m 26.3s

So far there have been no further reports. Watch for such reports on this object here:
http://www.cbat.eps.harvard.edu/unconf/ ... 44263.html

A word of caution: sometimes the object turns out to be only an asteroid. Nevertheless, at mag 7.8, this one is worth tracking. Should be fun.

Here is the webpage for all initial reports, the CBAT "Transient Objects Confirmation Page":
http://www.cbat.eps.harvard.edu/unconf/tocp.html

[starfinder]

Update:

I've just imaged this object. It's very bright, for a just-discovered object. I roughly estimate it in the region of mag 8. White.

Comparing with the charts in my TheSky6 software, there are no mag 8 stars at that spot. It has to be a nova! Will upload a photo in a while.

This object was discovered just a few hours ago by two Japanese astronomers at 2012 Jul. 07.4986 UT (which I think translates to around 7pm Singapore time today).

[Mariner]

Great job starfinder! It really sucks that I'm stuck overseas now...

[starfinder]

And here is the image of the suspect nova which I took just now at 10:18pm (1418UTC) on Sat 7 July 2012.

I think this must be one of the first few published images of the object on the internet!

Below is a screenshot from TheSky6 planetarium program, which confirms this is a new object.

[Edit to add: I've also viewed the object through my LX-90 8" SCT with a 24mm eyepiece this evening. It is easily visible as a white, relatively bright object.]

http://i.picoodle.com/1e2j6haa


http://i.picoodle.com/1f0j6hab

[Gary]

Awesome! Congrats!

[starfinder]

It's official. The object has been confirmed as a nova and given the designation Nova Sagittarii 2012 No. 4 by the Int'l Astronomical Union's Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams.

See:
http://www.cbat.eps.harvard.edu/cbet/RecentCBETs.html
http://www.cbat.eps.harvard.edu/iau/cbe ... 003166.txt

An extract from the CBET report:
"The spectrum shows Balmer series, Fe II multiplets 37, 42, 48, 49, 55, 73, and 74; Na I D; O I 777.3- and 844.6-nm; and Ca II
849.8- and 854.2-nm lines in emission. These features indicate that the variable is a "Fe II"-class nova."

See also:
http://www.aavso.org/aavso-special-notice-289
http://www.skyandtelescope.com/resource ... 91655.html

Below is a screenshot from my planetarium program showing where this nova is, together with the other two recent novae in the Sagittarius-Scorpius region. Something's cooking over there!

http://i.picoodle.com/8a5j6hwd