Supernova SN 2023ixf in Galaxy M101

M101 is a spiral galaxy in Ursa Major near the handle of the Big Dipper. It is relatively bright and nearby as galaxies go, but we see it face-on so its surface brightness is low. When I first tracked down M101 with my little 60mm refractor many years ago, my description in my observing log was "the closest thing to nothing that I've ever seen." Nowadays, I can point my even littler 8x42 binoculars up to the right spot and I see M101 with no issues from a dark sky site. Chalk that up to the power of experience--bright deep-sky objects don't look very bright when you start out on your visual astronomy journey, but take some time to learn to see.

For the past 20 years, I've had a 10" Dob which gathers a lot more light than my binoculars and small scope. Compared to just detecting M101 with the smaller instruments, it allows me to see detail in the spiral arms, although without the contrast or extreme reach of well-done astrophotography/astro-imaging. I've looked at M101 a lot when it was well-placed in the sky, and sketched it within a few months of getting the Dob. A couple of other notable occasions were when M101 hosted Supernova SN 2011fe during the 2011 Oregon Star Party, and when I did a deep dive into the nebulous and starry knots in the spiral arms during the 2014 Oregon Star Party.

In May of 2023, there is another supernova in M101. I went up to a local-dark site on the evening of Sunday, May 22. A crescent Moon was in the sky during twilight, and there was also a pass of Starlink satellites and the International Space Station. A few clouds threatened, but stayed clear of my target. Before it got truly dark, I messed around with my recently purchased Spectre to look at absorption lines in the spectra of bright stars. Seeing was quite poor, so conditions weren't the best for this task, but it was still fun.

With the Moon getting low and the sky getting dark, I turned to M101. The supernova was readily visible near the knot designated NGC 4261. 

I didn't look up comparison stars beforehand, and estimated the supernova's brightness compared to several nearby stars. Unfortunately, none were on the official AAVSO list of comparison stars, and one even turned out to be a variable itself. Using a couple of the stars that aren't too far off from the supernova's color, I get an estimated magnitude of 10.9. This is a Type II supernova; the Type 1a in 2011 peaked at a full magnitude brighter, but this may yet brighten to rival that one.