NOVA SAGITTARII 2009 No. 4

Cbet circular No. 1994, issued on 2009 Oct. 26, announces the discovery by K. Nishiyama and F. Kabashima of an apparent new Nova (mag 9.3) on images taken with a 105-mm f/4 camera lens in the course of their nova survey. Nothing is visible on their two recent survey frames taken on 20 & 21 October 2009 (limiting magnitude 13.9).

On our images taken on October 27.09 through a 0.25-m, f/3.4 reflector + CCD, near Mayhill (NM), we can confirm the presence of an optical counterpart with unfiltered CCD magnitude about 9.0 (USNO-B1 Catalogue reference stars) at coordinates:

R.A. = 18 31 32.81, Decl.= -16 19 07.5
(equinox 2000.0; USNO-B1 catalogue reference stars).

Our image of this transient:

by Ernesto Guido and Giovanni Sostero

Alan Young Award 2009

We have just received news that our team members Ernesto Guido & Giovanni Sostero have been awarded the 2009 "Alan Young" Award by the readers of "The Astronomer" magazine. TA is a magazine for the advanced amateur with the "aim to publish all observations of astronomical interest as soon as possible after they are made". The magazine has been published monthly since 1964 and subscribers are found all over the world.

The award is in memory of the late Alan Young.

Congratulations to Ernesto & Giovanni!!!

The Team

Netherlands Fireball - October 13, 2009

A bright fireball has been reported to streak across the sky in the Netherlands by many observers at approximately 1658 UT on Oct. 13th. The bolide breaks apart into a half-dozen fragments, and a trail in the sky remained visible for many minutes.

(Credit: Jan de Vries)

(Credit: Robert Mikaelyan, The Netherlands)

(Credit: Maciej Libert, The Netherlands)

According to Spaceweather website: "Royal Dutch Meteorology Institute listening post detected strong infrasound (low-frequency sound) waves, apparently confirming a high-altitude breakup event". More images of both the fireball and the trail can be seen here.

Several thousand meteors of fireball magnitude occur in the Earth's atmosphere each day. Most occur over the oceans and uninhabited regions and many are masked by daylight. The brighter the fireball, the more rare is the even.

by Ernesto Guido