…And then, there were two. Fresh off of the eruption of
Nova Cassiopeiae 2021 early this year,
another galactic nova made itself known earlier this past weekend, as a ‘new star’ or nova flirted with naked eye visibility in the constellation Hercules the Hero on its border with Aquila the Eagle.
The Discovery: The nova was discovered at +8th magnitude ‘with a bullet’ on the night of June 12th by astronomer Seiji Ueda from Hokkaido, Japan. The nova initially gained the telephone number-like monikers TCP J18573095+1653396 (denoting its position in the sky), and ZTF (Zwicky Transient Facility) 19aasfsjq (another alphabet soup designation), before getting the much more straightforward designation of Nova Herculis 2021, or simply N Her 2021. Just a few days ago, the American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO) released the formal
Alert Notice 745, notifying observers that a new bright northern hemisphere nova was indeed afoot.
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