Nova Scorpii - dropping, but that's fun too!

Popped out about 4:45 am this morning to get a look at Nova Scorpii 2007 #1 and a look for Nova Scorpii 2007 #2. I would put the first one now at about magnitude 6.0 and the second at - well, I don't know. I'm not at all sure I could see it. Nova don't look like anything special - just another star. The magic is in seeing them rise and fall - to see a star where none was visible before, and then to see it fade to invisibility again - speaks volumes about the incredible event you are witnessing.

This morning the 12-day-old moon was just dropping behind a neighbor's house to the west, the transparency wasn't that great, and my eyes were only roughly dark-adapted. I used the15X45 IS Canon to quickly find the field which is now very familiar to me. (To see a chart go to this earlier entry. ) I knew immediately it had dropepd significantly. When I first saw it, it was the brightest star in a neat little triangle east of Epsilon Scorpii. Then in later observations it dropped below one of those companion stars which is known to be 5.0. Four days ago, though, I put it as brighter than the 5.5 companion star. Today, I would put it as significanlty dimmer than either of those and, in fact, a bit dimmer than a 5.9 star I use as a guide to the second nova. This was a more difficult call, though, since I could just fit the two into my binocular field.

(BTW - it may be brighter tomorrow - nova follow a general pattern, but as I understand it they can have spurts of brightening even while on their way down from a maximum.)

I also looked at both stars with an 80mm F5 scope at 16X and at 32X. At 32X I could easily see the 5.9 star and its 9th magnitude companion - but if I saw the second nova, it was with averted vision. All I can say for certain is this second onet is lower than 9.0 and I suspect lower than 9.5. In fact, what I think I was glimpsing had to be 10 or lower. (If it's brighter than 9.0 then I'm looking in the wrong place.)

I purposesly don't check the AAVSO reports before vieweing because I don't want to prejudice my observations, but I do look forward to seeing if my observations even come close to what others are seeing. So I just looked (8:45 am) and the five estimates r4eported so far for March first average 6.0! They are: 6.1, 6.5, 5.7, 5.8, 6.0 (For complete reports go here.) The latest reports on the seocond nova are from Feb 28 and have it at magnitude 10 or less, so I'm not surprised I'm not seeing it. (See reports here.)

While out in the middle of the road - and dodging the headlights from people heading off to work early - I couldn't resist taking a peak at Juputer. The moons frequently surprise me and this morning was no exception. Ganymeade was very close to the planet on one side and Callisto was hanging out way to the left. Don't know where the others were, but I did verify these position by looking at Starry Night. It delivered the simulation you see in this image which was very close to what I could see with the 80mm at 32X.

Oh - I was in the middle of the road because that's where I have a window due south to within a few degrees of the horizon. Otherwise, the trees block my view. If nothing else, however, these two nova have gotten me tuned into Scorpius. What great constellation. It rivals Orion, as Sir Patrick Moore says. I'd love to be somewhere where you could see it well above the horizon.