Bright nova in the constellation of Delphinus
Friday, August 23, 2013 - 06:00
in Astronomy & Space
A bright nova has recently been discovered in the constellation of Delphinus (The Dolphin). The discoverer was Koichi Itagaki, in Japan who used an 18 cm reflecting telescope with a CCD camera. The nova was confirmed late on August 14 at a magnitude of 6.3 (in a dark sky the faintest naked-eye stars are approximately 6.0 magnitudes - the lower the magnitude the brighter a star). Unusually, the nova continued to brighten after discovery reaching magnitude 4.5 according to the American Association of Variable Star Observers. This made it the brightest nova visible in the northern hemisphere sky since Nova Aql 1999 (V1494 Aql) which brightened to magnitude 4.0.