Nova Delphini 2013

Discovered on August 14th by amateur astronomer Koichi Itagaki of Japan, a new star explosion known as a “nova” flared up in the night sky. Online news updates said that it would reach its highest magnitude lastnight, and would be visible with binoculars, so I thought I’d give it a look!
I live in a fairly dark night area way outside of San Antonio, Texas city limits… and I am telling you… I had a very hard time finding it. Finding the Summer Triangle was easy, and star maps located Nova Delphini 2013 to be just outside of the bottom leg of the Triangle (outlined in purple).

So even though I still couldn’t see it by binoculars, I knew where it would be in the sky, and trusted that my camera would “see” it for me… and it did! I had zoomed in on constellation Sagitta closest to Altair, and caught the Nova!

(Don’t be confused by the tree leaves being in different locations in the two photos… I had moved all over the yard!) The Nova is showing signs already that it is fading, so I am glad to have caught it while it was shining as brightly as it was.

Nova Delphini 2013
August 17th, 2013
New Braunfels, Texas
Clear, 95° F

Canon SX50 HS - f/4.5 - ISO 3200 - 1s. exposure 

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