A new Super Nova in M101 was discovered on Friday 19th May 2023 by Koichi Itagaki. At 21 million light years away it's the closest observed Super Nova for over a decade.
More information
https://earthsky.org/todays-image/supernova-in-m101-pinwheel-galaxy-closest-in-a-decade-how-to-see/
I imaged it on Sunday 21st.
45 x 120s Lights + Darks and Flats
Scope: Sky Watcher ED80 DS Pro
Mount: Sky Watcher NEQ6 Pro
Camera: QHY268C
Guide scope: Sky Watcher Evoguide 50ED
Guide cam: Altair Astro GP-CAM 290M
Image capture: SharpCap
Guiding: PHD2
Planetarium: Cartes du Ciel
Stacked with Deep Sky Stacker.
Processed with Fitswork4 and Affinity Photo V2.1.0.
April 2022
May 2023
The animation below is compiled from the above images, April 2022 and May 2023.
The Super Nova is clearly visible below and to the right of the centre of M101. The recent image is bluer than the 2022 image, that's just processing differences. The video quality seems to have been reduced by the site, but it still shows the Super Nova very well.
