Galaxy 11 to Astro Bob – Do you read me?

One night last month while setting up the telescope for a night of observing I noticed a “new” star in the southern constellation Ophiuchus. I first thought it was a satellite but it appeared stationary and didn’t fade away. Hmmmm. … Continue reading →

The mystery object in Ophiuchus seen last month. It looked like a 3rd magnitude star (one level fainter than the Big Dipper stars) to the naked eye. Photo: Bob King
One night last month while setting up the telescope for a night of observing I noticed a “new” star in the southern constellation Ophiuchus. I first thought it was a satellite but it appeared stationary and didn’t fade away. Hmmmm. Could this be a new nova? It was in the Milky Way band where most novae (explosive outbursts of stars) are discovered. To grab the data in case this object proved to be something interesting, I fired off a few photos.
Close up view of Ophiuchus and Galaxy 11. In 30 seconds time, the satellite barely moved while the stars show obvious trails from Earth’s rotation. Photo: Bob King
The longer the light remained the more excited I became until I noticed that it was moving ...