15 Aug
2013
15 Aug
'13
6:28 a.m.
I remember being at Little Mountain with several other clubbers one August night in 1975, when I looked up and noticed an extra bright star in Cygnus. I was not quite 16 years old and none of the adults would believe me. Seems most of them had problems relating what was in the sky to an atlas page. It turned out to be Nova Cygni 1975, peaking at better than 2nd magnitude, and the second-brightest nova of the 20th Century. Only CP Puppis in 1942 exceeded it in brightness. It's pretty cool seeing a familiar constellation changed by a nova, especially one that bright. I think we're overdue for another bright nova. (This one ain't it)