Hunt for a Nova - Part 1

Background

T Coronae Borealis (T CrB) is a binary system of stars 3,000 lightyears from us which is located in the constellation Corona Borealis.  I will spare you all of the details which are easily findable online (some links below for background).  The TLDR version is that the system consists of a giant red star and a white dwarf star.  The giant red star excretes material out into space which is collected by the white dwarf star.  As more material is collected by the white dwarf star, the pressure and temperature increases which eventually ignites into massive explosion (a nova).  T CrB has a pattern of exploding around every 80 years.

Astronomers believe that such explosion is preparing to happen again sometime between now and September. When it does, T CrB will go from invisible to the naked eye to being as bright as our north star, Polaris.

So, for the next several months (or however long it takes) I am going to try to capture the nova as it happens with my camera.  I will use this as a journal to keep track of my progress. 

The Setup

After a lot of thought – I decided on the below setup for my first attempt tonight.

Camera:Nikon D800

Lens: AF-S NIKKOR 70-200mm f/2.8E FL ED VR

Focal Length: 70mm

Camera Mount: Manual $20 mount from Amazon

Aperature: F/4

ISO: 3,200

Shutter Speed: 5”

Final Thoughts

My main goal is to document a before and after of the nova – ideally a video showing the changes in brightness throughout the process. Most likely it will end up being a series of pictures showing the changes.  Let’s hope for some clear skies so we can start tonight!

Links for More Information

A new star in the sky might be the 'brightest nova of the generation' (astronomy.com)

Anticipation Grows for a Spectacular Nova Display as Observed by NASA and Global Experts (msn.com)