![]() Because of the bright dusk, it helps to look with binoculars. To the lower right is planet Venus, which is even brighter. Our neighboring planets, however, move in their orbits past the background stars, easily tracked night to night or week to week.īe sure to catch planet Mercury which appears like a bright star low in the west-northwest, about a half hour after sunset. Yet all appear to stay in place with respect to other stars, on human time scales. Some classic variable stars can be tracked with eyes alone. Yet many of them vary in brightness on regular, more or less predictable cycles novae are unexpected. The occurrence of a bright nova can alter the appearance of a familiar constellation for a few weeks.Īnother brilliant star is visible in Cassiopeia every clear night- but NOT from here! Our very own Sun appears as a very bright star in this constellation as seen from the neighborhood of our closest neighboring star system, Alpha Centauri, 4.3 light years away.Īt first glance, the stars across the sky seem to be very steady lights. The nova is found near the star cluster M52, which is a binocular target. Good star charts are available online to help you find it. The two stars (Alpha and Beta Cassiopeiae) marking the top “leg” of the “W” point right towards Nova Cassiopeia, approximately the same length away. ![]() In this position in the northeast, the “W” shape is nearly on its side. It’s easier to catch the nova in the early morning hours when Cassiopeia is climbing up higher in the northeast. On May evenings you need to have an unobstructed view of the north- northwest to see Cassiopeia, which will be low in the sky the Big Dipper stands high up. Although dim to the naked eye, it is easy to see in binoculars.Ĭassiopeia is the famous W-shaped constellation visible in the northern sky, roughly on the opposite side of the North Star from the Big Dipper. Then on May 6-7 it was seen at 5.7, and on May 9 at 5.5. After starting around 8.0 for four weeks, it began to slowly brighten from 8.0 to 7.5 by the end of April. It quickly brightened yo about 7.5 to 8.0, visible in binoculars. You need at least a small telescope to see a star of that magnitude. I better hurry up, before it fades to obscurity like before anyone knew the star was there.įormally designated as V1405 Cassiopeia, it was discovered at magnitude 9.6 on March 18 by a Japanese amateur astronomer Yuji Nakamura. I haven’t had a chance to see Nova Cassiopeia yet. With only a small amount of light pollution, on a moonless night, 4th magnitude should be no trouble, even 5th, depending on how dark the sky is. ![]() Most of the stars of the Big Dipper are 2nd magnitude. The North Star (Polaris) is 2nd magnitude. The bright yellow-orange star Arcturus, which is high in the eastern sky on May evenings, is the fourth brightest star in the night sky, magnitude +0.2. On the stellar magnitude scale, in whole numbers each magnitude is 2.5 times as bright as the one below it. The higher the magnitude number, the brighter it is. Generally, in a dark, rural sky, a person with dark-adapted eyes should be able to see stars to magnitude +6, which appear as faint specks. Then there is a nova rising to magnitude +5.4.
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