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Very bright fireball (magnitude about -15) (Dec. 19, 2023)
Fireball with afterglow
Very bright fireball (magnitude about -15) was recorded over the southeastern horizon on 2023 Dec. 19 at 4:50:04UT +/-30s, with the all-sky color camera. Exposure time was 60s at ISO 3200. Copyright © 2023 by PIKA project, Crni Vrh Observatory.

Partial Lunar Eclipse (Oct. 28, 2023)
Partial Lunar Eclipse on Oct. 28, 2023
Image of the partial Lunar eclipse was taken by J. Vales from Idrija, using a Canon camera with 215 mm telephoto lens, stopped to f/8. Exposure time was 1/200s at ISO 80. Image obtained at 20:28UT, about 14 min after the eclipse maximum, when only 6% of the Moon surface was obscured. Copyright © 2023 by Jan Vales.

Fireball with afterglow (Sep. 10, 2023)
Fireball with afterglow
Brilliant fireball with greenish hue and short afterglow was recorded low over the southern horizon on 2023 Sep. 10 at 23:25:42UT +/-30s with the all-sky color camera. Exposure time was 60s at ISO 3200. Copyright © 2023 by PIKA project, Crni Vrh Observatory.

Fireball with afterglow (July 15, 2023)
Fireball with afterglow
Fireball with about 10 minut afterglow duration flashed over the Northern Croatia and was recorded low over the NW horizon on 2023 July 15 at 21:50:49UT +/-30s, with the all-sky color camera. Exposure time was 60s at ISO 3200. The fireball belongs to July Pegasids. Copyright © 2023 by PIKA project, Crni Vrh Observatory.

Time-lapse animation (by J. Vales). May not be opened in Firefox, but with other browsers works fine.

Fireball with afterglow
Close-up view of fireball trail, recorded on 2023 July 15 at 21:50:49UT +/-30s, with the all-sky color camera. Exposure time was 60s at ISO 3200. Copyright © 2023 by PIKA project, Crni Vrh Observatory.

Bright supernova exploded in galaxy M101 (May 21, 2023)
Supernova SN 2023ixf was discovered by the Japanese supernova hunter Koichi Itagawa on 2023 May 19.7 UT, when the object was at magnitude 14.9. As of May 21st, when a series of images were taken at �rni Vrh Observatory, it had raised to about magnitude 11. Spectra indicate that SN 2023ixf is a Type II supernova � the catastrophic destruction of an aging supergiant star.

The object is located 227.7" east and 134.1" south of the galaxy's center at RA 14h 03m 38.6s Dec. +54o 18' 42". M101 lies approximately 21 million light-years away, making this one of the closest supernovae visible in recent years.

The last supernova observed in M101 was SN 2011fe, discovered in August 2011 as the Type Ia object, reaching a peak magnitude of 9.9.

Supernova SN 2023ixf
Follow-up images were taken on 2023 May 21 (20h48-21h40UT) with the 60-cm, f/3.3 Cichocki telescope and LRGB filters (10 x 60s in each filter). Total exposure time 40 minutes. Image scale is 0.8 arc sec/pixel. Copyright © 2023 by H. Mikuz, Crni Vrh Observatory.
Supernova SN 2023ixf
Follow-up images were also taken on 2023 May 21 (20h48-22h14UT) with the 19-cm, f/4 Flat-field camera and ASI2400MC Pro CMO. Total exposure time was 79 minutes. Image scale is 3.2 arc sec/pixel. Copyright © 2023 by H. Mikuz, Crni Vrh Observatory.
Supernova SN 2023ixf
Follow-up image taken on 2023 May 22 (21h12-22h04UT) with the 60-cm, f/3.3 Cichocki telescope and LRGB filters (10 x 60s in each filter). Total exposure time 40 minutes. Image scale is 0.8 arc sec/pixel. Copyright © 2023 by H. Mikuz, Crni Vrh Observatory.
High sunspot activity during the current Solar Cycle 25 (Jan. 20, 2023)
Sunspot activity, 2023 Jan. 18
An interesting Solar activity has been observed during the past days, particularly there is increased number of sunspot groups, with huge sunspot AR 3190 (below and left of center), that is about five times the diameter of Earth and is currently visible also with naked eye, using the solar filter glasses. This image was taken in the morning of 2023 January 18, by Jure Skvarc from La Palma, Canary Islands, with Skywatcher Skymax 127 mm, f/12 telescope and ZWO ASI6200MM CMOS camera. Processed with Autostakkert by stacking the 40 best images. Sun elevation about 23 degrees. Copyright © 2023 by Jure Skvarc.

Fireball of August 4, 2022
Fireball of 2022 Aug. 4
Fireball (about magnitude -10) was recorded on 2022 Aug. 4, at 23:16:28UT +/-30s, with the all-sky color camera and fisheye lens. Exposure time was 60s at ISO 3200. Copyright © 2022 by PIKA project, Crni Vrh Observatory.

Fireball of 2022 Aug. 4
Close-up view of fireball trail, recorded on 2022 Aug. 4, at 23:16:28UT +/-30s, with the all-sky color camera and fisheye lens. Exposure time was 60s at ISO 3200. Copyright © 2022 by PIKA project, Crni Vrh Observatory.

Fireball of August 3, 2022
Fireball of 2022 Aug. 3
Fireball (about magnitude -8) was recorded on 2022 Aug. 3, at 23:27:12UT +/-30s, with the all-sky color camera and fisheye lens. Exposure time was 60s at ISO 3200. Copyright © 2022 by PIKA project, Crni Vrh Observatory.

Fireball of 2022 Aug. 3
Close-up view of fireball trail, recorded on 2022 Aug. 3, 23:27:12UT +/-30s, with the all-sky color camera and fisheye lens. Exposure time was 60s at ISO 3200. Copyright © 2022 by PIKA project, Crni Vrh Observatory.

Fireball of September 2 with afterglow (Sep. 2, 2021)
Fireball of 2021 Sep. 2
Fireball with about 16 minut afterglow duration was recorded on 2021 Sep. 2, at 00:02:12UT +/-30s, with the all-sky color camera and fisheye lens. Exposure time was 60s at ISO 3200. Copyright © 2021 by PIKA project, Crni Vrh Observatory.

Time-lapse animation (by J. Vales). May not be opened in Firefox, but with other browsers works fine.

Fireball of 2021 Sep. 2
Close-up view of fireball trail, recorded on 2021 Sep. 2, at 00:02:12UT +/-30s, with the all-sky color camera and fisheye lens. Exposure time was 60s at ISO 3200. Copyright © 2021 by PIKA project, Crni Vrh Observatory.

Fireball of August 14 (Aug. 14, 2021)
Fireball of 2021 Aug. 14
Fireball (about magnitude -10) was recorded on 2021 Aug. 14, at 02:05:02UT +/-30s, with the all-sky color camera and fisheye lens. The fireball probably belong to k-Cygnids meteor shower, reaching maximum on Aug. 17 with ZHR=3. Exposure time was 60s at ISO 3200. Copyright © 2021 by PIKA project, Crni Vrh Observatory.

Nova Her 2021 = V1674 Her = TCP J18573095+1653396 (June 14, 2021)
Nova Her 2021 = V1674 Her was initially discovered on 2021 Jun 12.537 UT by Seiji Ueda (TCP J18573095+1653396), (CBET 4976), though data from the All-Sky Automated Survey for Supernovae (ASAS-SN) revealed an earlier detection, on June 12.1903 UT (ATel #14710). Munari, Valisa and Dallaporta spectroscopically classified the new source as a nova close to naked-eye brightness (ATel #14704), while Wagner et al. (ATel #14746) determined it to be a neon nova.

Spectroscopic observations, published in The Astronomer's Telegram:

ATel #14704
ATel #14710
ATel #14746
ATel #14747

Nova Herculis 2021 = V1674 Her
Image of Nova Herculis 2021 (center star), taken on 2021 Jun. 14 (0h01-1h03UT) with 19-cm, f/4 Flat-Field Camera and Canon EOS 700D (astro-modified). Exposure time was 51x60 seconds at ISO 1600. Total exposure time 51 minutes. FOV is 1.65o x 1.1o. Image scale is 4.7 arc sec/pixel. Copyright © 2021 H. Mikuz, Crni Vrh Observatory.

Nova Herculis 2021 = V1674 Her
Same image as above with enlarged field of Nova Herculis 2021 (center star). Copyright © 2021 H. Mikuz, Crni Vrh Observatory.

Fireball with afterglow (April 3, 2021)
Fireball of April 3, 2021
It was recorded with all-sky camera at ?rni Vrh Observatory on 2021 April 3, at 21h58UT. The fireball afterglow lasted 47 minutes. Copyright © 2021 by J. Vales and J. Skvarc, Crni Vrh Observatory.

Time-lapse animation.

Nova Cassiopeiae 2021 = V1405 Cassiopeiae = PNV J23244760+6111140 (March 22, 2021)
CBET 4945 report the discovery of apparent nova by Yuji Nakamura (Mie, Japan) on 2021-03-18.4236 UT (mag 9.6) on four 15-s CCD frames (limiting mag 12.0), taken on Mar. 18.424 UT with a 135-mm-f.l. f/4.0 lens. The new variable was posted on the Central Bureau's TOCP webpage under the designation PNV J23244760+6111140.

Spectroscopic observations, published in The Astronomer's Telegram:

ATel #14471
ATel #14472
ATel #14476
ATel #14478
ATel #14482
ATel #14471

Nova Cassiopeiae 2021 on Mar. 22
Image of Nova Cassiopeiae 2021 (center star), taken on 2021 Mar. 22 (4h28-4h45UT) with 19-cm, f/4 Flat-Field Camera and Canon EOS 700D (astro-modified). Exposure time was 15x60 seconds at ISO 1600. Total exposure time 15 minutes. FOV is 1.65o x 1.1o. Image scale is 4.7 arc sec/pixel. At top center is open cluster M52, while at right is the NGC 7635 (Bubble nebula). Copyright © 2021 H. Mikuz, Crni Vrh Observatory.

Nova Cassiopeiae 2021 on Mar. 24
Image of Nova Cassiopeiae 2021 (center star), taken on 2021 Mar. 24 (4h02-4h35UT) with 19-cm, f/4 Flat-Field Camera and Canon EOS 700D (astro-modified). Exposure time was 30x60 seconds at ISO 1600. Total exposure time 30 minutes. FOV is 1.65o x 1.1o. Image scale is 4.7 arc sec/pixel. At top center is open cluster M52, while at right is the NGC 7635 (Bubble nebula). Copyright © 2021 H. Mikuz, Crni Vrh Observatory.

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