The Nova in Sagitta - a classical Fe II-type nova.

 

Part of the Constellation 'Sagitta the Arrow' showing the Nova V488. The image is a compilation panorama of two stacks of images captured last night with the Observatory's Seestar S30.

Image and plate solving credit: Astrometry.net 

Google Gemini's go at identifying Nova Sagitta V488 - which Kurt believes to be wrong! As most AI software warns 'AI can make mistakes'🤣 

    

Kurt's best guess at the location of Nova V488 based on the images and charts available on the internet from credible sources 

 

"Last night from the Jodrell Plank Observatory, we managed to capture a few photons from the Cosmos. Kurt and his team were battling against the clouds and a waning gibbous Moon , which in concert did much to make imaging difficult! 

Kurt was very keen to image the current nova in the constellation Sagitta is named V488 Sagittae (also designated as Nova Sagittae 2026 or N Sge 2026).

The Seestar was the obvious choice bearing in mind it's quick set up, reasonable  field of vision and the brightness of the nova at mag 6 to 7. 

It is however very easy to mix up stars in and around the plane of the Milky Way where you are often spoilt for choice. 

We do however believe we have captured an image which shows the nova." - Joel Cairo CEO of the JPO the UKs most easterly Astronomical Observatory.

" Out of courtesy, I uploaded Kurt's best guess to Google Gemini and in response and without further comment it corrected it's annotation to agree with his. Either it just wants to please everyone or it has some way to go before 'world domination" 🤣 -Joel

Google Gemini's corrected annotation

Nova in Sagitta August 2026: Scientific Description

By Gary Gemini Coms Manager at the JPO.

V488 Sagittae (also designated Nova Sagittae 2026 / PNV J19450648+1822422) is undergoing a classic thermonuclear nova explosion.

At the centre of this cataclysmic variable system is a dense white dwarf in a tight binary orbit with a stellar companion star. Over time, the intense gravitational pull of the white dwarf pulls hydrogen-rich gas away from its donor companion, forming an accretion disk around the remnant star before settling directly onto its surface.

As this accreted layer of hydrogen accumulates on the white dwarf's surface, extreme gravitational forces compress and heat the gas. Once the base of this material reaches critical temperature and pressure thresholds (roughly 10 million Kelvin), runaway nuclear fusion is triggered.

This sudden, runaway thermonuclear blast violently ejects the outer envelope of accumulated hydrogen into space at thousands of kilometres per second. The explosion causes the progenitor system—previously an extremely dim magnitude ~21 speck—to violently brighten by hundreds of thousands of times into a bright 6th–7th magnitude optical transient before beginning its slow radiative cooling and decay phase.

Unlike a supernova, the underlying white dwarf survives the blast intact, and after the ejected shell dissipates, the mass-transfer accretion process will eventually begin anew.

Why V488 is Different from a Type 1a Supernova

V488 Sagittae (Classical Nova): This is a superficial, non-destructive surface explosion. It occurs in a close binary system where a white dwarf pulls hydrogen gas from a companion star. Once the gas pressure builds up, a thermonuclear runaway triggers on the surface, causing the system to flare up significantly in brightness before fading. The underlying white dwarf completely survives the event. 
Type Ia Supernova: This is a terminal, internal detonation. It occurs when a carbon-oxygen white dwarf accumulates so much mass that it exceeds the Chandrasekhar limit (roughly 1.44 solar masses), causing the entire star to blow itself apart and leave no remnant behind. 

Pickering's Triangle and The Cygnus Loop.

 

Pickering's Triangle and the Witches Broom Nebula. Seestar S30 EQ mode. Cropped selection from a 60 minute stack of 60 second light frames.

"Part of the Veil Nebula in Cygnus and the remnants from a supernova.  One of the joys of the Northern Hemisphere's summer and early autumn skies " - Joel Cairo CEO of the Jodrell Plank Observatory in Lowestoft, Suffolk, UK.

The Cygnus Loop: Scientific Description

By G.Gemini Coms Manager at the JPO.

The Western Veil Nebula & Pickering’s Triangle (Cygnus Loop)

This wide-field capture features two prominent components of the Cygnus Loop supernova remnant: NGC 6960 (the Western Veil, or Witch’s Broom) and Pickering’s Triangle (Simeis 3-188). Located approximately 2,400 light-years away in the constellation Cygnus, these intricate filaments trace the expanding shockwave of a core-collapse supernova that shattered a massive star roughly 10,000 to 20,000 years ago.

Arcing across the upper section, the Witch’s Broom forms a sharp, delicate shock front visually anchored by the bright foreground star 52 Cygni (mag 4.2). The ribbon displays strong colour separation created by distinct atomic transitions: rich magenta-red hues from ionized hydrogen (H alpha emission at 656.3 nm) complemented by subtle cyan filaments corresponding to doubly ionized oxygen ([O III] emission at 500.7 nm), where supersonic shocks heat the interstellar medium. Across the lower frame, Pickering's Triangle unfolds into a intricate web of braided gas threads, showcasing diffuse hydrogen emission interlaced with faint ionization boundaries.

Acquisition & Processing Details:

• Telescope/Camera: ZWO Seestar S50 (Equatorial Mode)

• Integration: 60 × 60s exposure lights (1 hour total integration)

• Gradient Correction: GraXpert

• Star Separation: StarNet GUI

• Post-Processing & Composition: Affinity Photo 2

Curiosity said Alice!

 

The Martian Vista captured by the mast-cam of the Curiosity Rover.

NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

" When you make something well it does last, even in the most extreme of environments. This image taken by the Curiosity Rover on Mars at its highest elevation to date, really underlines the extreme nature of the Martian Environment. 

In a timescale of one million years the Sun will have begun to heat up as part of its ageing process. Life on Earth will eventually become impossible. In the meantime, rather than prioritising humanity's escape to Mars, we might be better to invest resources in protecting our environment and defending the one 'Million Years', which is an enormous amount of time and represents at least 100,000 future generations". - Joel Cairo CEO of the Jodrell Plank Observatory.

"I was surprised to see our sponsor's image of the Andromeda Galaxy, captured with the Seestar S30, in the September issue of Astronomy Now. Who knew the 'old boy' would get to be astronomically popular?" - Kurt Thrust current Director of Jodrell Plank Observatory.

Sometimes you find an unexpected interloper.

 

" Kurt was getting his head around an update of the Seestar App and as part of the process pointed the S30 at the Elephant's Trunk Nebula IC1396 for a couple of minutes. He then forgot all about it. When I came across the data, I noticed that the 'Elephant' had been photobombed by a meteor, possibly a Perseid straggler" - Joel Cairo CEO of the JPO the UK's most easterly Astronomical Observatory.

Comet 220P McNaught.

 

" The Seestar S30 was on 'outreach work' and was used by Kurt to image the short period comet 220P McNaught in the early hours of this morning whilst it was moving against the background of the Constellation Cetus. The comet surprised everyone this year by unexpectedly brightening in the night sky.". - Joel Cairo CEO of the Jodrell Plank Observatory.

Comet 220P McNaught: Scientific Description

By Gary Gemini Coms Manager at the JPO.

Comet 220P/McNaught is a short-period, Jupiter-family comet with an orbital period of approximately 5.51 years. First discovered by astronomer Robert H. McNaught in May 2004, its orbit is characterized by a perihelion distance of ~1.56 AU, an aphelion extending to ~4.68 AU near Jupiter's orbit, and a low orbital inclination of ~8.1°.

Morphological Features in the Exposure:

Optically Dense Coma: The image captures a highly condensed central pseudo-nucleus surrounded by an asymmetrical coma. The bluish-white hue around the nucleus stems primarily from cyanogen ($CN$) and diatomic carbon ($C_2$) radical gas emissions driven by solar ultraviolet radiation and photo-excitation.

Structural Dust Tail: 

Extending towards the upper-right quadrant, the prominent tail consists mainly of millimeter- to micrometer-sized dust grains pushed outward by solar radiation pressure along the anti-solar direction.

Outburst Morphology: to

 The pronounced brightness and extended structure visible here align with 220P's dramatic activity phases, such as the major outbursts where sublimating subterranean ices (like $CO$ or $CO_2$) violently ruptured the refractory mantle, ejecting massive plumes of dust and volatile gases.

Enlarged crop of the original stacked image.

The Universe is big, very big!

 

"The above is an annotated version of an image captured and created with the JPO's Seestar S30. 

The Seestar S30 has a field of vision of only  0.0064% of the entire celestial sphere or sky. A tiny amount in the scheme of things. 

In addition the Seestar, having an aperture of only 30mm has limited light grasp, so can only image objects down to apparent magnitude 12 to 15, dependant upon light pollution and length of exposure.

Both the above limitations, inherent to the Seestar S30, act to minimise the number of stars imaged.

The above Seestar image is estimated by AI to contain somewhere between 300 and 400 billion stars. The overwhelming majority of these stars are held within the galaxies identified in the above image. The spiral galaxy NGC 7479, the Propeller Galaxy, contains 100 to 200 billion stars alone.

The Universe is a very very big place indeed". - Kurt Thrust current Director of the Jodrell Plank Observatory.

Messier 8 reviewed in detail.

 

The Lagoon Nebula Messier 8 
Data credit: the PIRATE robotic telescope. 
Open Observatories, Open University, telescope.org.
(Rendered two ways using Affinity Photo software)

" The wonderful  Messier 8 aka the Lagoon Nebula, never rises much above our southern horizon at the Jodrell Plank Observatory. We therefore use data captured from Tenerife much further south. The Nebula is a mix of dust and ionized gas and is a home to star birth in the Milky Way."- Joel Cairo CEO of the Jodrell Plank Observatory.

Messier 8 the Lagoon Nebula: Scientific Description

By Gary Gemini Coms Manager at the JPO.

Image Analysis & Morphological Features

Captured using the PIRATE (Physics Innovations Robotic Telescope Explorer) instrument at the Observatorio del Teide, Tenerife, this wide-field frame resolves the core structural dynamics of Messier 8 (M8), a massive H II region.

The image highlights the complex interplay between photo-ionized gas, obscuring interstellar dust, and young stellar associations:

Central Ionization Zone & The Hourglass Nebula: 

At the physical center lies an intensely bright, high-surface-brightness core driven by extreme photo-ionization. Situate in here is the Hourglass Nebula, a highly turbulent sub-region sculpted by stellar winds and ionizing ultraviolet radiation primarily originating from the massive O-type supergiant Herschel 36 (visible as the bright star adjacent to the central core).

Central Ionization Zone and Hourglass Nebula

Dust Topography & Dark Nebulae: 

Sweeping lanes of cold molecular gas and opaque dust cross-cut the emission background. The prominent central dust lane—the feature historically giving M8 its "Lagoon" namesake—is clearly visible, alongside small, dense, collapsing protostellar dust clouds known as Bok globules (such as Barnard 88, 89, and 296) silhouetted against the bright ionized hydrogen background.

Open Cluster NGC 6530: 

To the east (left) of the core lies NGC 6530, an embedded, extremely young open star cluster born directly out of the nebula’s parent molecular cloud. Its hot, massive stars contribute significantly to the collective UV flux driving the illumination of the surrounding gas.

Physical & Astrophysical Attributes

Classification: Active H II Region / Emission Nebula with associated Open Star Cluster (NGC 6530).

Constellation: Sagittarius

Distance: ≈4,100 to 5,200 light-years (1.25 to 1.60 kpc) from Earth.

Physical Extent: Spans roughly 110×50 light-years (≈33×15 pc).

Excitation Mechanism: Photo-ionization driven by high-energy far-ultraviolet photons (λ<91.2 nm) emitted by massive, hot O- and B-type stars. Recombination processes in the ionized hydrogen gas generate the dominant Hα emission lines.

Stellar Population: The region serves as an active site of ongoing star formation. NGC 6530 is estimated to be only 2 to 4 million years old, housing hundreds of young, high-mass stars, protostars, and Herbig-Haro objects embedded deep within its dust lanes.

Bok globules.

Herbig-Haro objects embedded in dust clouds.