Supernova Discovery in NGC 4088‏

Success... shame... and ignomy...:blush:

Dee asked if she could try to sketch NGC4088 last night in the 20", so I set it up in the back yard while the sky was still darkening and had no trouble locating the galaxy - nice and big and bright, with a distinct stellar core slightly offset from the centre of the galaxy. Cor, that's a nice galaxy, I thought, and a doddle to find.

I called Dee and told her to head over at around 10:30... but when she arrived could I find it again? Could I hell! : angry: By this time the galaxy was directly overhead and moving a big dob accurately up there is not as easy as it sounds. We (note I'm spreading the blame and shame here! ) both tried in vain to reacquire our target, but eventually thin clouds (which later quickly developed into fog!) put an end to our embarrassment!

Sorry about that Dee... but I could always give you a verbal description of what it looked like and you could do a sort of police photo-fit sketch if you like!

Philip.

Awww sure it was neck straining to say the least and with the greatest will in the world we just could not stop the rotation of the Earth no matter how we hung of the ladder :laugh:

In retrospect the faint galaxy we did see did not really look like 4085 which we looked at in a sketch done in the US of A. The sketch included 4088 our elusive target. What we saw was more of a splodge than a spiral shape. I'm on for trying again if I can escape

I drove into thick fog within minutes of leaving Philips, good fun and I am very impressed with the planned observatory.


Deirdre Kelleghan

Did Philip show you all the parts Dee? Its unbelievable isn't it!! I thought I was mad with all me hairbrained plans for my Lightbridge. Philip with his Dome took hairbrained to a whole new level. The scale and tolerances of the fabrication are mind boggling. But aren't all the finest ideas hairbrained. When this is finished it will be one of the finest dome observatory in Ireland, nay the British Isles! Numero Uno Amatuer Astronomers Dome and pretty high up the pecking order of Professional observatories too!!

Philip doesn't Do easy and small!

ayiomamitis wrote:

John,

Thanks for the encouraging news. I have been clouded out for a few days and predictions suggest Friday as the first day this week with clear skies.

This is a neat opportunity for first light for my Mewlon 210. It has already been collimated and all I need now is a small window of opportunity to set it loose.

Thanks again.

Anthony.

Anthony,
This SN appears to be still holding at around Mag 13.8 or so. Whats needed is a good close up to see what exactly is going on. I've seen some pics that come close to showing the detail and seperating the SN from the other "bright" stars in the centre but I'm sure given the conditions you can come up with some really clear pics. Best so far is Martin Mobberley - www.supernovae.net/sn2009/n4088s13.jpg
Its probably a bit early yet but I'd class it as a type IIP. The light curve seems to be holding steady at the plateau phase. Good luck with the weather.

JohnMurphy wrote:

Anthony,
This SN appears to be still holding at around Mag 13.8 or so. Whats needed is a good close up to see what exactly is going on. I've seen some pics that come close to showing the detail and seperating the SN from the other "bright" stars in the centre but I'm sure given the conditions you can come up with some really clear pics. Best so far is Martin Mobberley - www.supernovae.net/sn2009/n4088s13.jpg
Its probably a bit early yet but I'd class it as a type IIP. The light curve seems to be holding steady at the plateau phase. Good luck with the weather.

Hi John,

I am delighted to learn it is still going on strong. I plan to throw the Mewlon 210 at it for six hours total exposure time (3 hrs Lum and 3 hrs RGB ) using an image scale of 0.58"/pixel.

I have a favourable forecast (for now) for Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Of course, I would like to have a go at it this Friday so as not to play cat and mouse games with possible last minute changes with the weather on the weekend.

Fingers crossed the supernova remains static for a few more days.

My Irish friends will be the first to know of my result on Saturday.

Anthony.