Peter Collins Discovered V1974 Cygni With Binoculars Feb. 19, 1992

Summary: American amateur astronomer Peter Collins discovered V1974 Cygni with binoculars Feb. 19, 1992, as a “moderately conspicuous subject” near Deneb.

Peter Collins discovered V1974 Cygni (Nova Cygni 1992) as a “moderately conspicuous suspect” above and right of Cygnus the Swan constellation’s brightest star, Deneb; luminous blue Deneb (center left) participates in the Summer Triangle with Lyra the Lyre’s Vega (upper left) and Aquila the Eagle’s Altair (lower center); Akira Fujii; NASA/ESA/Hubble: Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons

American amateur astronomer Peter Collins discovered V1974 Cygni with binoculars Feb. 19, 1992, as a “moderately conspicuous subject” northwest of Cygnus the Swan constellation’s brightest star, Deneb.

Collins made his discovery Wednesday, Feb. 19, 1992, using 10x50 binoculars, in Boulder, Colorado. He continued his observations the next day, Thursday, Feb. 20.

Collins reminisced about his binocular find 11 months after discovery in the January 1993 issue of the AAVSO (American Association of Variable Star Observers) Newsletter. He first noted the unfamiliar, “not extremely bright, yet compelling” object, shining at 7.2 magnitude, in the “very early evening” of Tuesday, Feb. 18, to Wednesday, Feb. 19. He was seated in a beach chair outside his apartment in western Boulder, Colorado, on Flagstaff Mountain’s lowest slopes.

Sky conditions were not opportune. The moon was full. Also, thick aerosol clouds from more 20 million tons of debris ejected into the stratosphere by four eruptions of the northern Philippines’ Mount Pinatubo between June 12 and June 16, 1991, had reached northern Colorado. Collins compared viewing conditions to “observing from an island in the fog.”

Nevertheless, Collins noticed “a moderately conspicuous suspect above and to the right of Deneb.” Luminous blue Deneb (α Cygni, Alpha Cygni; α Cyg, Alpha Cyg) shines as the brightest star in Cygnus the Swan constellation. The first magnitude star marks the Swan’s tail and participates in two well-known asterisms, the Summer Triangle and the Northern Cross.

Nine hours after his first notice, Collins found the object “happily clear in the morning sky” and “brightened a full magnitude.” The object’s placement “well north” of the sun and visibility in “both morning and evening skies” facilitated Collins’ scrutiny.

Turkish-American astronomer Janet Akyüz Mattei (Jan. 2, 1943-March 22, 2004), who served as AAVSO’s director from 1973 to 2004, announced Collins’ visual nova discovery via AAVSO Alert Notice 155, dated Feb. 20, 1992. The alert provided the official IAU designation of V1974 Cygni (V1974 Cyg) for Nova Cygni 1992.

The International Astronomical Union’s (IAU) Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams (CBAT) also issued an official notification on Feb. 20, 1992. American astronomer Daniel W.E. Green, CBAT director since 2000, announced Collins’ visual discovery via IAU Circular No. 5454.

The notices detailed the discoverer’s estimated magnitudes for his observations of V1974 Cygni (Nova Cygni 1992) on Wednesday, Feb. 19, and Thursday, Feb. 20. An estimated magnitude of 6.8 on Feb. 19.07 UT shifted to magnitude 6.0 on Feb. 19.52 (19.54, according to Circular 5454). For Thursday’s sightings, Collins estimated magnitudes of 5.5 on Feb. 20.07 and 5.0 on Feb. 20.51.

The IAU circular included visual confirmation made on Feb. 20 by five other observers. The AAVSO alert added a sixth observer to the list of visual confirmations. Basingstoke, England-based Guy M. Hurst, editor of The Astronomer monthly magazine since 1975 and launcher of the UK Nova/Supernova Patrol in June 1976, communicated sighting of Nova Cygni 1992 (V1974 Cygni), at estimated magnitude 5.3, on Feb. 20.19 by David Moore of Dublin, Ireland. A magnitude of 5.0 on Feb. 20.42 was reported by John E. Bortle of Stormville, New York. Charles E. Scovil also reported magnitude 5.0 for his observation on 20.43. Paul L. Sventek’s observation on 20.44 in Houston, Texas, noted magnitude 5.3. Canadian comet and minor planet discoverer David H. Levy observed Nova Cygni 1992 (V1974 Cygni) on 20.53 in Tucson, Arizona. The AAVSO alert noted an observation, at magnitude 4.3, made on 20.753 by Patrick Schmeer of Bischmisheim, Germany.

AAVSO and IAU credited American astronomer Brian A. Skiff of Flagstaff, Arizona’s Lowell Observatory with providing the nova’s precise position. Green’s circular noted that precise position measures derived from a plate taken on the observatory’s 0.33-m Abbot L. Lowell Astrograph, known as the Pluto Discovery Telescope, by American astronomer Schelte John “Bobby” Bus. The IAU identified the nova’s precise position, calculated by Skiff according to equinox 2000.0, as right ascension of 20h30m31s.76 (20 hours 30 minutes 31.76 seconds) and declination of +52 27’52”.9 (plus 52 degrees 27 minutes 52.9 seconds). The AAVSO alert’s precession of Skiff’s calculations (2000) for epoch 1950 placed the nova’s precise position at right ascension of 20 hours 29 minutes 07 seconds and declination of plus 52 degrees 27 minutes 45 seconds.

The takeaways for Peter Collins’ discovering of V1974 Cygni with binoculars Feb. 19, 1992, are that he noticed “a moderately conspicuous suspect” in an early evening sky troubled by a full moon and a cloud of volcanic aerosols, that Nova Cygni 1992 was positioned about seven degrees north of Cygnus the Swan constellation’s brightest star, Deneb, and that visual confirmations came from observers in the United States, Ireland and Germany.

NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope (HS1) image, taken May 31, 1993, in ultraviolet with ESA’s Faint Object Camera (FOC), shows hot gas shell ringing V1974 Cygni (Nova Cygni 1992) 467 days after the nova’s eruption Feb. 19, 1992; the shell’s diameter measures 37 billion miles (about 60 billion kilometers), or about 400 times the solar system’s diameter; a beam of light would cross the shell in less than two and one-half days: Francesco Parasce [sic: Paresce], ESA/STScI and NASA, CC BY 4.0 International, via Hubble Space Telescope

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

Peter Collins discovered V1974 Cygni (Nova Cygni 1992) as a “moderately conspicuous suspect” above and right of Cygnus the Swan constellation’s brightest star, Deneb; luminous blue Deneb (center left) participates in the Summer Triangle with Lyra the Lyre’s Vega (upper left) and Aquila the Eagle’s Altair (lower center); Akira Fujii; NASA/ESA/Hubble: Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wide-field_view_of_the_Summer_Triangle.jpg

NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope (HS1) image, taken May 31, 1993, in ultraviolet with ESA’s Faint Object Camera (FOC), shows hot gas shell ringing V1974 Cygni (Nova Cygni 1992) 467 days after the nova’s eruption Feb. 19, 1992; the shell’s diameter measures 37 billion miles (about 60 billion kilometers), or about 400 times the solar system’s diameter; a beam of light would cross the shell in less than two and one-half days: Francesco Parasce [sic: Paresce], ESA/STScI and NASA, CC BY 4.0 International, via Hubble Space Telescope @ https://www.spacetelescope.org/images/opo9321a/

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