Thursday night I spent some time with fellow RAC members Mark L.and Ian H. (separately) while at the Staunton River Star Party. We were looking through my 8” SCT for the super nova SN2012aw that had been detected last week in the Leo galaxy, M95. After much back and forth on Stellarium, star charts and printed aids, we confirmed the bright object that looked like a foreground star was indeed the supernova SN2012aw.
I read a comment online from someone doing photometry work on SN2012aw that they measured it at 12.67 mag. which might be why we were barely able to see it with my 8” scope (although the skies were pretty dark – measured at 6.2 mag. by fellow RAC member Phyllis L).
Lastly, check out the blog post of Astronomer Phil Plait. His March 23, 2012 blog post is around the progenitor of SN2012aw that has been found in previous Hubble Space Telescope pictures. Check out the blog post and video >> HERE.
Clear Skies,
-Mike
