Eyepiece projection with slit - Nova V1663 Aql 8th July 2005

Located at 19h 05m 13s +05deg 14.2 arcmin, this Nova was recorded 30days after discovery.

This image was taken through the spectrograph with the slit fully open and the grating removed. The measured magnitude +12.4 is CCD (unfiltered) relative to Vmag comp stars (AAVSO chart 1900+05 d)

SC3 "PIPCAM" +VC200L @ f6.4 Exposure 35x 5sec

The spectrum was recorded using the 100 l/mm grating. The slit was narrowed to reduce the sky glow from the twilight sky. Exposure was 50x 20sec

The strong H alpha emission line is very clear.

It is also interesting to note that there is very little skyglow around the Ha wavelength, which explains why Ha imaging can be done successfully ,even in twilight skies

The lower spectrum is with the sky background spectrum from the slit subtracted.

The spectrum plot of the Nova

The H alpha emission line dominates the spectrum.

Note that the continuum spectrum is also rather red, extending well into the infra red but with little blue content.