PNV J11261220-6531086: nova (7 mag) in Musca (discovered by Rob Kaufman)

2018 01 14.712 UT
Improved astrometry (1" accuracy) by Daniel Bamberger using three CCD images taken by Róbert Fidrich (instrument: T13 at the iTelescope network): RA 11h26m15.16s, DEC -65°31'23.3" (J2000.0). A Gaia DR1 source (G= 18.02 mag) is located 1.3" from this position.
http://www.cbat.eps.harvard.edu/unconf/followups/J11261220-6531086.html

My confirmation image made using the T13 telscope at the Siding Spring station of iTelescope.net mentioned befor by Patrick.
 

High resolution version can be downloaded here.

Clear skies,

Robert

I imaged the new star but my chosen exposure got me overexposed images. I will try agin tonight with reduced exposure times. The star is very bright close to mag 6.5 in V (JD 2458133.88865) and mag 7.1 in B.

Josch

Same hapened in my case too. My 60s images were slightly saturated, thus all I can say the nova was brighter than 7.8 mag. Unfortunately the positioning for my 5s and 2s images were wrong, thus the nova was outside of the field :(

Btw isn't AAVSO planning to issue an Alert Notice?

Yes, an AAVSO Alert Notice on the nova will be issued today.

Good observing,

Elizabeth Waagen, AAVSO HQ

I was able to get a BSM_S BVRI set from last night.  Nova is B=7.10, V=6.60 as of 2458134.01.  It is nearly saturated on my V images, so consider these lower limits to its current brightness.

Arne

Thanks very much, Arne. I'll include them in the Alert Notice. When you have a chance, could you please submit them to the AID? Thanks.

Elizabeth

Hi all

I submitted a visual estimate of 6.7 last night and wrote it up to encourage others to observe it:

  https://dbenn.wordpress.com/2018/01/15/nova-near-southern-cross/

I was considering taking DSLR images also this week if the weather coperates and submitting tri-color (GBR) observations, if worthwhile.

David  

AAVSO Alert Notice 609 announces and reports on Nova Muscae 2018 = PNV J11261220-6531086. Please see the notice for details and observing instructions.

Many thanks, and Good observing!

Elizabeth Waagen, AAVSO HQ

hi all,

While experimenting with various camera/lens/focus settings for a southern Milky Way panorama on the evening of January 5, I unknowingly recorded Nova Mus 2018 pre-discovery.

The uploaded image is a crop from the unprocessed original jpg. 10 seconds @ISO12800, 70mm(edited) lens on a Pentax K30. Unfortunately I didn't save any raw images (or deliberately de-focus this one) so there's little hope of deriving a precise magnitude. Looks to be about mag 6 and a half on this image?

cheers,  Fraser

I send a photo link taken with Celestron CPC 1100 and Canon Rebel XS camera with F / 6.3 focal reducer. 2-minute exposure, ISO 800.

http://nova.astrometry.net/user_images/1942485#annotated

The nova is still bright, I made it at V= 6.7 tonight.
Be aware that the original sequence had two comparison stars (64 and 71) added yesterday night to account for the current brightness. Also plotting a Binocular chart is a good idea at this stage.

The first peak seen in ASAS-SN at V= 8.8 is outside of the survey range so that magnitude is saturated.
Anyway, this seems to be that kind of nova with multiple peaks.

Cheers,
Sebastian

I have uploaded new observations this time no saturation in V (mag 6.5) and B (mag ~7). Uncertainties are 0.03 and 0.05, respectively. I use comp stars which are much dimmer (around mag 11). Will check if I can use other brighter comps in my field (45x45 arcmin^2).

Josch.