Rare Outburst of Nova RS Opiuchi

Nova RS Opiuchi captured nineteen days after its eruption.

In August 2021, observers across the globe had the opportunity to image the intense brightening of recurrent Nova RS Opiuchi. On August 8-9, the Nova went outburst, increasing its brightness from 11.2 to 4.8 magnitude and becoming visible to the naked eye.

This dramatically brightened star was captured by Rocchetto & Adriano Valvasori / telescope.live. Sky and Telescope paired their image with an earlier image from Palomar Observatory to demonstrate the increase. https://skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-news/recurrent-nova-rs-ophiuchi-just-blew-its-top/

Our image of the star, captured on August 27, 2021 shows a significant decrease in brightness from its brightest point.

Nova RS Opiuchi has erupted at least seven times since 1945 and is likely to erupt again in another 15-20 years.