I did, but visual observing

Forums Variable Stars V404 Cyg I did, but visual observing

#576907
Nick James
Participant

I did, but visual observing is so hard compared to imaging!

I only have a C6 for visual use mounted on a Vixen Sphinx mount. It found the field without problems and I used around x150 but the conditions were so grotty that I could only see down to mag 12.5 or so (I could clearly see AAVSO star 111 but star 125 was right on the limit). I started to observe around 2240 UT and initially I couldn’t see V404 Cyg. It then gradually became visible until around 2320 when it disappeared over a period of a few minutes even though stars of similar brightness were still there. Ten minutes later it was back and brightening but I had to go to bed…

I must admit it was very nice to see photons from a black hole jet with my own eyes but it made me realise how good CCDs are for imaging things in light-polluted places!

Nick