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05/14/2021
02:00 am

Equipment Details:

2020 image
Frames: 23x360s
Telescope: Skywatcher newton 150/750
Camera: Canon EOS 200D
Equatorial mount: Skywatcher AZ EQ5

2021 image
Frames: 15x300s @-10
Telescope: Skywatcher newton 200/800
Camera: SBIG STF 8300C
Equatorial mount: Skywatcher AZ EQ6

Post-processing Details:

Pixinsight
Photoshop

Image Details:

V1405 Cas - Nova in Cassiopeia

The two images on the left date back to 23 June 2020 while the two on the right were made on 14 May 2021, the latter clearly highlight the presence of the nova V1405 Cas discovered on 18 March 2021 and which at the time had an approximate magnitude of 9 , 6 but in the last few days the magnitude has unexpectedly risen to about 5.2. It is hypothesized that the star that produced the nova is the eclipsing variable CzeV3217 located at a distance of about 5,500 light years from the Solar System, V1405 Cas was initially classified as a "classic nova" or the result of an explosion that occurred in a binary system consisting of a star and a white dwarf but further studies are currently underway.
In order to show more details the original frames were heavily cropped and a negative version has been added.

© Luca Balestrieri Cosimelli & Nicoletta Guarniera

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