T-PYXIDIS OBSERVING REPORT

The members of Kutch Amateur Astronomers’ Club planned to observe the recurrent nova T-Pyxids on the evening of 3^rd May. The Nova occurred on 14^th April and was detected by Mike Linnolt. I read the news from the Sky and Telescope website. I then informed Mr. Narendra Gor and told him to watch the Nova and inform the other club members about it. The charts were available from the AAVSO website.  

Firstly we organized a star party on 1^st May south of the Bhuj city. On that day I tried to spot the Nova but couldn’t succeed due to some minor problem in my 25x100 Binos. Our club’s 6-inch Newtonian was pointed toward Saturn so I couldn’t use it for my purpose. I tried to spot the Nova through my 10x50s but wasn’t sure whether I had seen it or not! The location of T-Pyxids was very low at that time, so I gave up.

On 3^rd May we again decided to watch the Nova. I went to Mr. Narendra Gor’s home carrying my 10x50 Olympus Binoculars. From his terrace we tried to spot the Nova through our club’s 6-inch Newtonian. Other club members, Nishant Gor, Chandni Gor, Kartik Pomal and Amit Hedau were present and very much excited to view the Nova! It is located at RA 9h 04m 41.5 DEC -32.22’ 47.4”.

I started from Alpha Pyxidis and moved the scope to the E-NE direction. After using Starry Night Pro software I got its location. It was paired with a 7.8^th magnitude star. The Nova T-Pyxidis was shining at around magnitudes 7 or 7.5 compared to its nearby star. This was the second Nova observation in my life!