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My first opportunity to see Nova Cas ’20. In a grotty sky using the AAVSO sequence, visual 13.4 on Jly 30.938.
The first Nova (detected) in Cassiopeia since V723 Cas (Nova 1995), which is still visible around 16.5 mag.
Gary
That’s it. Thanks Jeremy. I knew it was more than 10, but couldn’t recall the object without cheating and checking in my records 😉
I’ll have a bob on eight!
Gary
After 41 days since it’s first outburst for 32 years, PQ And is still active with the fourth rebrightening commencing on July 7.
All except number three have been short duration events of ~1d. The third has been long in comparison ~3d. (see light curve from my own observations below)
I can’t recall the system which has had the most post outburst brightenings, but we have a way to go yet with four, so please stick with PQ And for the foreseeable future.
Gary
PQ And is undergoing it’s first rebrightening today after fading to 16.6CV on June 25. Latest observations reveal 13.45V on June 26.45 (M. Mobberley). This could be the first of several rebrightenings (or the only one), so please stick with it for the next few weeks if possible.
The field is getting slightly easier in the morning sky now, so any observations made please report them to the VSS.
Thanks and good luck,
Gary
Hello Roy,
A correction to the lunar phases in the 2020 handbook can be found here…
https://britastro.org/system/files/BAAHbk2020-p27.pdf
Gary
No it isn’t very stable Nick, but with careful handling it works fine – you just have to be patient! Without it I wouldn’t have seen PQ And at all!
And if these pesky NLC’s keep away from Brum, I’m hopeful of continued use for a while longer yet!
Bagpuss is a Brummie. Thought everyone knew that.
Further to my #2 post above, our VSS director suggested I post a photo of my scope in PQ And mode. Well here it is. My trusty 30 year old battered 22cm dobby doing a balancing act on a table, but it does get me to view over the hedge. I often do this for stars low in the north which my 51cm in the observatory can’t get at. In the past it’s been on milk crates, house bricks etc. and even poked out of the bedroom window – much to my wifes’ disgust on a cold winters morning 🙂
The cat didn’t show up this morning, so this is one I made earlier…
Gary
Hello Rob,
Good to see you’ve finally got to it after all these years! Quite something isn’t it!
Gary
There is now a short and pretty basic PQ And page residing on the BAAVSS website https://britastro.org/vss/PQAnd.htm
Hopefully I’ll add to it as the outburst progresses, so if you have anything you’d like to share (spectrum, time series photometry etc. I’m not asking for much am I) then please send it to me and I’ll add it.
And please don’t forget to add your observations of PQ And to the BAAVSS database.
Gary
The first pretty picture I see I’ll put on front of VSS web page. I’ve just put the 1988 light curve on there too.
Gary
Hi James,
Well we only have the historic outburst to go on, which wasn’t that well covered. However looking at the light curve it faded by a magnitude in just 5 days or so, and then two weeks to lose a further magnitude.
UGWZ type stars (if it is indeed one of these) can do wonderful things once they have faded – like re-outbursting a number of times after the primary outburst. They don’t do this every time though, just to keep us on our toes.
It’s going to be very frustrating due to it’s poorly placed position, but must remain hopeful that someone will get some good photometry and or spectroscopy during this outburst – but I’m not holding my breath.
Gary
I’ve never waited 32 years to see a star for the second time before – but it was worth the wait. On 1988 March 28 I made my first observation of PQ And, detected by my fellow BAAVSS observer and friend Dave McAdam a week before. Tried from the BAA Winchester weekend at Kings Alfred’s college without luck on the 26 & 27, although the skies were very clear – no scopes about! My mag on the 28th was 11.6. By April 13 it had faded to mag 13.0 when I lost it in the NW evening sky.
Three decades later and here I am at 3am in the morning, balancing my trusty old 22cm dobby on a garden table, peering over the hedge to pick out this 10th mag dot low in the NE sky, and hoping the local cat doesn’t jump up, knock everything over and wake up the neighbours – and worse, my wife!!! I have to admit I was beginning to wonder if I’d ever see it again, yet there it was. Couldn’t sleep when I eventually got to bed – too excited. VS are brilliant things to observe.
Gary
Hello Roy,
There is no formal way to join the VSS, as long as your interested in VS we’ll welcome you!
To submit observations to the database, you will need an observer code and login details. Have a read of this and it will advise how to go about it…
https://britastro.org/photdb/notes_submissions.php
I’ll leave it to one of the CCD observers to comment on your set-up, but it looks fine to me.
Don’t forget the VSS Circulars – free to everyone! https://britastro.org/vss/VSSC_archive.htm
Gary
Hi James,
There were some problems with the VSS web site following the server upgrade, but I made some changes to several of the page links in the contents frame, and all is now well. I’ve had several people test all the links, with no problems reported.
I’ve also just tested the URL (britasro.org/vss/) and all seems to be well.
Gary
I wouldn’t be against a simpler Winchester, but I don’t think you could do it now. When I first started attending in the 1970’s amateur astronomy was much simpler (and some would argue, much more fun). There was a more ‘hands on’ approach, where someone might take a cardboard tube and a greasy shaving mirror and end up with a visual observation of some astronomical object, or perhaps construct an observatory from old pallets etc. (I helped a friend do this. The observatory lasted years!). The majority of conversations at Winchester (before the bar) were about what we saw through our instruments, and we didn’t need computers to locate these objects in the clear skies we sometimes had at the old King Alfred’s college. Yes indeed, those were the days! 🙂
Although I enjoy attending astronomical meetings they can and do get very ‘samey’. All high tech, expensive kit, satellites and professional astronomers etc. But perhaps that’s for another discussion.
Gary
Pauline, what a very cruel posting on today of all days. You know how to twist the knife…
About now I would be saying a teary goodbye to my cats whilst my wife packs my Winchester bag. Then off to pick a few others up before heading down to bring some much needed warm Brummie cheer to the locals of the sleepy village of East Ilsley and the Crown and Horns pub in particular. Then off in convoy to Sparsholt to revel in my 43rd Winchester meeting. Instead, what am I doing this weekend? Scouring the dark, grimy back streets of Kingstanding in North Brum to find a dozen black market eggs.
Thanks Pauline – my old mate!
Gary
