22nd June

M31
On June21st a Russian team spotted an object in M31 and issued Atel 11755



They make reference to AT2017ixs which I found last year.
It appears to be making a comeback.

I used T11 in New Mexico and took 3x300seconds:



The object is faint but definitely there. Magnitude from Astrometrica is 18.6



I contacted the Liverpool telescope team who had already had a quick look. They would try and get a spectrum.
The object is unlikely to be a nova - more likely a Long Period Variable, LPV.


26th June

SN 2018cow
There is a supernova in Hercules that is attracting a lot of interest. It reached maximum brightness
far quicker than normal supernovae, and was about 10 time brighter than usual. Astronomers at first
thought it might be in our galaxy, but investigations showed it to be 200 million light years away,
in the galaxy CGCG 137-068.
Spectroscopy shows features that are unlike any other supernovae.

This is 5 x 600 seconds:



Magnitude is 15.4
This would make it over 2.2 billion times brighter than the Sun, if viewed from the same distance.



30th June

TCP J18292290-1430460
There is a new transient in Scutum.

2018 06 29.577

Discovered by Y. Sakurai, Mito, Japan, on two frames using Nikon D7100 digital camera + 180-mm f/2.8 lens, who writes there is a variable star TSVSC1-TN-S300112300-126-67-2 at 21s.88 and 51".1. Nothing is visible at this location on a frame (limit mag.= 12.1) taken on 2018 June 23.632 UT.


This is 10x10 seconds:



Astrometry and photometry:
date: 2018 06 30.951
mag: 10.3
position: 18 29 22.961 -14 30 44.19



ATEL #11802  has determined that this is a classical nova.