Nova over Thailand
A nova in Sagittarius is bright enough to see with binoculars.
Discovered last month by the
All-Sky Automated Survey for Supernovae (ASAS-SN),
the
stellar explosion
even approached the limit of naked-eye visibility last week.
A classical
nova results from a
thermonuclear explosion
on the surface of a
white dwarf star --
a dense star having the size of our Earth but the mass of our Sun.
In the featured image, the nova was
captured last week above ancient
Wat
Mahathat in
Sukhothai,
Thailand.
To see
Nova Sagittarius 2016 yourself,
just go out just after sunset and locate near the western horizon the constellation of the Archer
(Sagittarius), popularly identified with an
iconic teapot.
Also visible near the
nova is the very bright planet Venus.
Don't delay, though, because not only is the
nova fading,
but that part of the sky is setting continually closer to sunset.