V5669 Sgr's Recent Activity

Affiliation
American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO)
Sat, 10/10/2015 - 14:08

Taken at face value, it would seem that the nova V5669 Sgr has been undergoing some rapid fluctuations in brightness recently.  Although one might at first assume from the plotted data seen on the LCG that the nova's mean lightcurve is just smoothly rounded, with just some outlying datapoints, there is no question that the nova was very briefly about 0.8 magnitude fainter on the night of October 8th and perhaps was so again last night.

Although rather poorly placed currently for mid-northern latitude observers, southerners being decidedly favored, observations in the next few nights before the waxing moon becomes a problem would be valuable to determining just what's going on with the nova as many previous iron nova have shown peculiar lightcurves.

J.Bortle   (BRJ)

 

Affiliation
American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO)
Dramatic Short-term Brightness Fluctuations

I would add to my post above that a check of the LCG this morning (2015-10-14) indicates that the short-term brightness fluctuations displayed by this nova have become even more distinct and suggest a cycle length of possibly less than one day. Although the nova is approaching solar conjunction increasingly limiting its access by northern hemisphere observers, those in the more favored southern latitudes - particularly thoses with CCD rigs - might do well to record the nova's brightness nightly for as long as possible to better document its interesting current behavior.

J.Bortle   (BRJ)