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A Bright Supernova on a Friday Night, 2004/10/2 UT



 
 
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  #1  
Old October 2nd 04, 09:09 AM
Dave Mitsky
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Default A Bright Supernova on a Friday Night, 2004/10/2 UT

At 00:30 UT tonight I observed the recently discovered supernova SN
2004et in Cepheus using the 17" f/15 classical Cassegrain at the ASH
Naylor Observatory (see
http://www.astrohbg.org/gallery2/Tour-of-Naylor/17_inch for a
photograph of this instrument). This bright type II supernova was
discovered on 2004/09/22.983 by Stefano Moretti. It is located in the
SAB face-on spiral galaxy NGC 6946 at R.A. = 20h35m25s.4, Declination
= +60°07'17".6 (U2000.0, page 20) and is positioned 247".1 east and
115".4 south of the nucleus of its host galaxy. The magnitude of SN
2004et is currently estimated to be 12.8. A finder chart is available
at http://www.skyhound.com/sh/SN2004et.gif (click on the image to
expand).

Although NGC 6946 has a relatively bright integrated magnitude of 8.8,
its extremely low surface brightness of 14.2 magnitudes per square arc
minute makes it a somewhat difficult target, particularly at a site
that has been compromised by the glare of suburban sprawl, and with
the skyglow and rather mediocre transparency I was unable to see the
galaxy at all. (The open cluster NGC 6939, which is a close neighbor
of NGC 6946, was easily viewed at 162x.) I was able to identify the
supernova by a triangle of fairly bright field stars that lie to the
south of the galaxy (browse the image at
http://www.ngc7000.org/ccd/sn2004et-20040929-m.jpg for the location of
the supernova and the field stars). Observations were done at 162 and
259x using 40 and 25mm University Optics MK-70 oculars respectively.
The supernova and a nearby field star of similar brightness that was
farther east were not difficult to discern.

Prior to the supernova I observed the open clusters NGC 225 and NGC
457 (the Owl Cluster) and the planetary nebula NGC 40. Afterwards two
more open clusters NGC 7789 and M52, the planetary nebula NGC 7662
(the Blue Snowball), and the spiral galaxy NGC 7331 were targets as
the rising Moon make life hard for deep-sky objects.

Dave Mitsky
  #2  
Old October 2nd 04, 03:21 PM
Jack
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On 2 Oct 2004 01:09:53 -0700, (Dave Mitsky) wrote:

At 00:30 UT tonight I observed the recently discovered supernova SN
2004et in Cepheus using the 17" f/15 classical Cassegrain at the ASH
Naylor Observatory (see
http://www.astrohbg.org/gallery2/Tour-of-Naylor/17_inch for a
photograph of this instrument). This bright type II supernova was
discovered on 2004/09/22.983 by Stefano Moretti. It is located in the
SAB face-on spiral galaxy NGC 6946 at R.A. = 20h35m25s.4, Declination
= +60°07'17".6 (U2000.0, page 20) and is positioned 247".1 east and
115".4 south of the nucleus of its host galaxy. The magnitude of SN
2004et is currently estimated to be 12.8. A finder chart is available
at http://www.skyhound.com/sh/SN2004et.gif (click on the image to
expand).

Although NGC 6946 has a relatively bright integrated magnitude of 8.8,
its extremely low surface brightness of 14.2 magnitudes per square arc
minute makes it a somewhat difficult target, particularly at a site
that has been compromised by the glare of suburban sprawl, and with
the skyglow and rather mediocre transparency I was unable to see the
galaxy at all. (The open cluster NGC 6939, which is a close neighbor
of NGC 6946, was easily viewed at 162x.) I was able to identify the
supernova by a triangle of fairly bright field stars that lie to the
south of the galaxy (browse the image at
http://www.ngc7000.org/ccd/sn2004et-20040929-m.jpg for the location of
the supernova and the field stars). Observations were done at 162 and
259x using 40 and 25mm University Optics MK-70 oculars respectively.
The supernova and a nearby field star of similar brightness that was
farther east were not difficult to discern.

Prior to the supernova I observed the open clusters NGC 225 and NGC
457 (the Owl Cluster) and the planetary nebula NGC 40. Afterwards two
more open clusters NGC 7789 and M52, the planetary nebula NGC 7662
(the Blue Snowball), and the spiral galaxy NGC 7331 were targets as
the rising Moon make life hard for deep-sky objects.

Dave Mitsky



Very nice report. Thanks for the links to SN finder chart. I intend
to look for it this weekend.
  #3  
Old October 2nd 04, 04:07 PM
David Bishop
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For more images of this supernova, take a look at:
http://www.RochesterAstronomy.org/sn2004/sn2004et.html

For a list of the current supernova, take a look at:
http://www.RochesterAstronomy.org/snimages
 




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