As part of experiments on diffraction spikes, I took some 10 minute LRGB shots of Vega
The star is obviously very over-exposed in a 10 minute frame, but the result is interesting.
15th August
M74 Supernova, sn2013ej, discovered by Lick Observatory Supernova Search on 2013/07/25.8007 x 3 minutes
Photometric measurements were very consistent.
Four images were taken with the V filter, and all gave very similar values - the red line is virtually flat.
The magnitude was 12.57
I had a quick try at Uranus.
The gif below shows the DSS image and the image of Uranus.
Two moons can be seen.
Sky and Telescope have an app that allows the moon positions to be found.
Oberon is above the planet and Titania below. The other three large moons are lost in the glare.
While waiting for M74 to rise in the sky I took some Ha images of ngc6888 the Crescent nebula.
August 16th
Nova in Delphinus - discovered August 14th
The exploding star was discovered at magnitude 6.3 by Koichi Itagaki, of Yamagata, Japan,
using a 0.18-metre reflector and unfiltered CCD camera.
Luminance - 21 x 2 minutes
There was almost no time to get any colour frames. I managed 2 red, 1 green and 1 blue before clouds moved in.
August 26th
The nova is less bright now, between mag 6.0 and 6.5. The colour seems to be completely different.
Neptune and moon, Triton.
4x30 seconds
5x30 seconds of Uranus
The moon Umbriel, is just visible (arrowed).
Ariel and Miranda are still too close to the planet to be seen.
