Last night, I decided to try my luck with the galaxy NGC 2655 and SN2011b (my first supernova sighting) I found the galaxy after about 20 minutes of star hopping, looking at the patterns in the sky, and coming back in to check Stellarium. When the galaxy eventually did come into the field of view, it was suprisingly evident for a galaxy with a surface brightness of +13.2, and was visible even at 120X as a circular fuzzy patch with a defined core. I saw the SN after observing with averted vision, and it was a really profound thing - the last burst of light the star will ever give, ending its 64 million year journey on my eyes. I was even able to ramp up the magnification to an amazing 240X and still see the SN and the galaxy core with averted vision. I found that the objects were best viewed at 120X though. I made a sketch of the SN and surrounding stars - can anyone confirm that it definitely was the SN that I observed? It appeared to be as bright as the core of the galaxy - about mag. 13.2 (+/- 0.5 magnitudes I would guess). Here are my sketches (my first DSO sketch too):
As I said - I would appreciate it if anyone could please confirm that this probably is the SN! I will definitely be returning to the galaxy to see it evolve over the weeks.
Supernova 2011b
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george7378
Supernova 2011b
Last edited by george7378 on Tue Aug 30, 2011 3:31 am, edited 2 times in total.
Reason: replaced img tags with img2 tags
Reason: replaced img tags with img2 tags
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neufer
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Re: Supernova 2011b
Are you sure that you have the right galaxy?
george7378 wrote:
Here are my sketches (my first DSO sketch too): As I said - I would appreciate it if anyone could please confirm that this probably is the SN! I will definitely be returning to the galaxy to see it evolve over the weeks.
Art Neuendorffer
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george7378
Re: Supernova 2011b
Definitely - here's a comparison of some of the star patterns:neufer wrote:Are you sure that you have the right galaxy?
Thanks for that image too - the SN is in the same position and orientation as the sketches.