Supernova in M51

A supernova has been discovered in M51. It is currently at magnitude 13.5, but it's brightening, and may reach mid 12th magnitude, so one of the brightest we're likely to see for some years. It is located 15" west and 67" south of the nucleus. This puts it in the first spiral arm, roughly opposite of NGC 5195.

Some details and image here:
www.rochesterastronomy.org/supernova.html#2005cs

It's now known that this is a Type II supernova in its early stages. It's not going to brighten too much but should stay around for a while.

Gordon

Thanks very much for that info Gordon. Its good to hear about these things as soon as possible. I might try for it tonight if i clears well enough

Thanks again for the heads up!

Remember in 1994 when a father and son discovered a supernova in the Whirlpool while out observing in their backyard??

Cool! Must try finding that. There is a 13.5mag star in M51 which I can see with through my 8". With the summer sky however, it may be a bit more of a challange. Only one way to find out.

Observed M51 no problem with the 8" SCt at 48X however due to patchy murky skies and poor trans i could not observe the SN or other faint stars within or near the spiral arms. I will try again on a better a night.

I did see 2 nice ISS passes and observed the moon and Mars. Was great to see the southern Polar caps and dark ground structure again!!!

Thanks for the heads up, thats well within my scope/canon capability, all we need is some more clkear skies and some darkness