Over The Horizon

Star Light, Star Bright

Mt John Observatory at Lake Tekapo was the first astronomical facility to undertake detailed analysis and observation of the latest nova, a newly brightened star near the Southern Cross.

The nova was spotted by an astronomer working in Chile, and messages about the new object spread around the world via the International Astronomical Union's telegrams and email messages.

One such message reached Alan Gilmore, resident observer at the University of Canterbury's observatory. As soon as it was dark enough that night, Gilmore made photometric observations of the nova, measuring its output at different wavelengths of light, using the 61cm Boller & Chivens telescope at Mt John.

At the same time, John Hearnshaw and Lyndon Watson, who were at Mt John using the observatory's new medium-resolution spectrograph on its first working run, obtained detailed spectra of the nova. The following day Pam Kilmartin, also a resident observer at Mt John, calculated the precise celestial coordinates of the nova from astrograph film so that the nova could easily be located by later observers.

The results of this fast work were sent by email to the IAU and from there to other astronomers around the world, letting them know about Nova Centauri 1995.