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Reports from Geisei Observatory <November 24, 2004>


• V574 Pup (Nova in Puppis)
    This is a photograph of the nova in Puppis discovered by Akihiko Tago and Yukio Sakurai. (Photograph 1)
@I took this photo using the 20cm refractor combined with ISO1600 high-speed film, which was a rather rare combination. The nova declined to 10th magnitude and looked orange.
    The appearance of a nova in Puppis is rare. A bright nova appeared in Puppis around 1942 or 1943 during World War II. One of the discoverers of this nova was Mr. Goro Kuroiwa. He told me how the nova looked: "It was a very bright nova and shining brightly even after other stars faded into twilight."
@Mr. Goro Kuroiwa was a son of the famous Meiji Era novelist Ruikou Kuroiwa. Mr. Goro Kuroiwa passed away in the same year when a minor planet was named after his father Ruikou.

• C/2004 Q2 (Machholz) and C/2003 K4 (LINEAR)
    There are two bright comets in the Southern Hemisphere sky. One of them, Comet Machholz, has begun moving north (Photograph 2). It is expected to shine at 3rd or 4th magnitude in the evening sky in the new year. It is not a great comet, though.
    C/2003 K4, which has moved to the south, is still bright. At 5:30 am on November 24, it was located at -36 degrees in the southern sky and its large 6.5-magnitude (estimated) coma was glowing brightly (Photograph 3). It will become unobservable from Japan before long.

   

[Photo of V574 Pup, a nova in Puppis]
Photograph 1 V574 Pup, a nova in Puppis
5-minute exposure from 03:11, November 24, 2004 J.S.T.on ISO 1600 film
20cm f/12 refractor



[Photo of C/2004 Q2 (Machholz)]
Photograph 2 C/2004 Q2 (Machholz)
8-minute exposure from 01:17, November 24, 2004 J.S.T. on ISO 1600 film
20cm f/12 refractor



[Photo of C/2003 K4 (LINEAR)]
Photograph 3@C/2003 K4 (LINEAR)
5-minute exposure from 05:25 on November 24, 2004 J.S.T. on ISO 1600 film
20cm /f12 refractor



Copyright (C) 2004 Tsutomu Seki.