2021 June 13
Bright nova in Hercules
Above image by Nick James (Nick also prepared the PANSTARRS field image shown in the teaser – see his animated gif of his image and the PANSTARRS field here)
A bright nova has appeared in Hercules on June 12. It is currently (June 13) 6th magnitude, on the borderline of naked eye visibility.
The object has the temporary id of TCP J18573095+1653396 and its position is RA 18 57 30.98 Dec +16 53 39.6 (J2000.0). It is between epsilon Aql and 111 Her
The object was discovered on 2021 June 12.537 UT at mag. 8.4 by Seiji Ueda (Kushiro, Hokkaido, Japan). The entry in the AAVSO variable star index suggests there was no object brighter than 20th mag at this position.
Further info is posted in the BAA Forum, where you can follow the unfolding story
Follow-up observations and spectroscopy are urgently required. Binoculars would be ideal. A 5 deg field chart is available here. And a 10 deg field here.
Jeremy Shears
Director, BAA Variable Star Section
Spectrum of Nova Her 2021 by Hugh Allen on 2021 Jun 12.939 showing P Cygni profile of the Hα emission
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