Use the photo above to navigate to the supernova. This wide-field chart will help get you to NGC 474. Based on spectra taken of the object, it was still a couple weeks before maximum in mid-July, so I wouldn't be surprised if it continues to brighten. At magnitude +13.7, you wouldn't call it 'bright,' but it's been rising since the DLT40 Surveydiscovered it on July 11th.

While you're out waiting for the comet to climb out of the haze, why not check out the new supernova, SN 2017fgc, which recently exploded into view in the 11th-magnitude galaxy NGC 474 in Pisces. You can use the comparison star magnitudes to estimate the supernova's brightness.

In this photo from July 22nd, the new supernova SN 2017fgc shines at magnitude +13.7, far from the core of the elliptical galaxy NGC 474 in Pisces. You can stay in touch with the latest developments on Shappee's Twitter page. An 8-inch telescope should have no problem bringing it to life, especially now that the Moon's out of view and won't return to the morning sky until August 6th. Right now, ASASSN1 stands about 20° high in the southeastern sky as it crosses from Cetus into Eridanus. There's a fair chance we're only seeing a temporary bright outburst of an intrinsically faint comet. But who knows? You and I will have to keep track of it to find out. Still, don't count your comets before they hatch. Stars are shown to magnitude +9 and comet positions are marked every 3 days at ~4 a.m. In a fun twist, ASASSN1 will slow down and spend the entire month of December and much of January within a few degrees of the North Star! Comet ASSASN1 (C/2017 O1) moves steadily to the northeast in the coming month, becoming higher and easier to see before dawn. It comes closest to the Earth four nights later, missing the planet by a cool 67 million miles. With a coma 8′ across, this thing's big! This wide-view map shows Comet ASASSN1's location at the Cetus–Eridanus border south of Alpha (α) Ceti (Menkar) on July 26th.Īssuming the orbit remains close to the current calculation, Comet ASASSN1 will move northeast across Cetus and Taurus this summer and fall, slowly brightening as it approaches perihelion on October 14th in Perseus. Some fire haze was present in the air at the time which may account for it being fainter than expected. On the morning of July 27.3 UT from near Duluth, Minn., I found the comet large, faint and diffuse in my 10-inch at 57x from Duluth, Minn. Chris Wyatt of Australia relates that a Swan band filter does a great job enhancing the apparent brightness and contrast of the coma, a sign this is a 'gassy' comet. The comet has brightened quickly in the past few days visual observers are now reporting it at around magnitude +10 with a large (7 ′), weakly condensed coma. The 15th-magnitude object was caught before dawn on July 19th in the constellation Cetus using data from the quadruple 14-cm 'Cassius' telescope on Cerro Tololo, Chile. Founding member Benjamin Shappee and team have 498 bright supernovae and numerous other transient sources to their credit, but this is the group's first comet discovery, ASASSN1 (C/2017 O1). News arrived in my e-mail Monday about a new comet discovered by the All-Sky Automated Survey for Supernovae(ASAS-SN). It feels like the FedEx guy just pulled up and dropped off a truckload of astronomical goodies. The comet is currently visible in the pre-dawn sky through modest-sized telescopes. New Comet ASASSN1 (C/2017 O1) already glows aqua from carbon-laced gases. Take your telescope out and see what all the excitement's about. Between the discovery of Comet ASASSN1 and two stellar explosions, there's a lot happening in the sky this week.

Ut project pisces