Hello Nova Herculis 2021

12-13 June 2021, 23:50 – 01:50 (BST)

Seeing: Poor

Transparency: Average / poor

Conditions: A breezy night with the occasional small patchy cloud passing by. Noticeably chillier than Thursday night. Also, some light condensation.

Nova Herculis 2021 (aka V1674 Her)

You wait ages for a nova to come along … and now another one appears, perfectly placed for summer viewing on the Hercules / Aquila border. I had the MSA (Millennium Star Atlas) bookmarked ready for this one (Volume III, chart 1222), but it turned out I didn’t need a detailed chart; the nova jumped straight out in the finder, blazing away at somewhere between magnitude 6.0 and 6.5. Through the eyepiece at 133x it appeared as an intense little point of light, dominating the surrounding star-field. Although there wasn’t much more to see, I spent a long time in the nova’s company. It’s fascinating (and a rare treat) to look at such an object and imagine the thermonuclear processes involved as a white dwarf leaches material from a companion star, culminating in an explosive eruption.

While in the area I also noticed an interesting grouping of four stars to the west: two 8th magnitude stars flanked by two fainter stars, all in a roughly east-west straight line.

NGC 6709, open cluster, Aquila

133x. Pretty cluster of moderately bright stars arranged in a rough zig-zag pattern. Fairly large and loose; as noted last year, the centre appeared somewhat empty of stars. Visible in the finder as a misty patch of light.

At around 1:10 I noticed a really bright flare from a satellite passing overhead (travelling south to north).

NGC 6755, open cluster, Aquila

133x and 171x. Faint spray of stars in a rough crescent shape, with a stream of fainter stars tailing off to the east. Brightest member on the western end of the cluster.

NGC 6756, open cluster, Aquila

Located about half a degree NNE of 6755 (plotted in the PSA but not SA 2000). 133x: An even fainter fuzzy patch, and also somewhat smaller than its neighbouring cluster. Faint stars popping out with averted vision. At 171x I could see a tight, elongated core of faint stars, surrounded by a broken almond-shape of brighter stars, like an eye. I imagine this cluster would look quite good under a properly dark sky.

Beta Lyrae, Lyra

133x. Bright white star with three companions forming a triangle around the primary.

Delta Cygni, double star, Cygnus

171x. Brilliant icy blue-white primary with a very close companion 2.4” to the south. (I’m glad I used the DeLite for this one.) Beautiful split between the two stars when the seeing allowed.

61 Cygni, double star, Cygnus

171x. Lovely pair of bright yellow-orange stars in a rich star-field (must revisit this one with the Ethos). The separation appears similar to Albireo, and (like Albireo) the split was just about visible in the 9x50 finder. Like Barnard’s Star, this pair is a relatively close neighbour to the sun at 11.4 light years.

As I’d started the session with a nova, it seemed appropriate to finish with one: a return visit to Nova Cassiopeia 2021, which appears to be holding steady at somewhere between 7th and 8th magnitude.