Discovery magnitude:
- Nishiyama and Kabashima: 11.8 unfiltered (CCD, using a 135-mm f/4 camera lens (+FLI 09000 camera))
- Fujikawa: 12.1 unfiltered (CCD using a MINOLTA F 3.5 f 120mm lens)
Discovery magnitude:
- Nishimura: DSLR magnitude 11.2, using 200-mm f/3.2 lens + digital camera
- Nishiyama and Kabashima: unfiltered CCD magnitude 10.9, using a 105-mm f/4 camera lens (+SBIG STL6303E camera)
March 14, 2010: Further to Munari et al. (CBET 2204, D.W.E. Green, editor), the presumed symbiotic star V407 Cyg is exhibiting spectral features clearly indicating a classical nova of the He/N type. This strongly suggests that the white dwarf component of the system is currently undergoing a nova outburst rather than a symbiotic-type outburst. The spectral evolution of this nova may be very fast given the likely large mass loss rate of the Mira-type donor star. We urgently request observations of V407 Cyg to provide photometric coverage of this unique event.
Nova Delphini 2013 (also named V339 Del) is the biggest cosmic event in variable star astronomy this year, and this naked-eye nova is providing the community a wealth of new data on this important class of objects. The amateur astronomical community has made an enormous contribution of data for Nova Del so far, and now is a good time to review all that's happened so far in this nova outburst, and how the amateur community has played a role.
