DQ Hercules
On the night of December 13th 1934 the amateur
British astronomer J P M Prentice discovered a nova in Hercules near the border
with Vega. On the night of discovery it was at mag 3.4 and during the rest of
December increased in brightness reaching greatest brightness on December 22 1934
at mag 1.3. Previous to going nova the star had been of the 15th
magnitude.
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| DQ Her is near the top left hand corner of the map |
A slow fade followed, with the nova losing 3 magnitudes in
94 days followed by a more rapid decline of 8 magnitudes in just one month. DQ
Hercules then brightened once more to reach a second fainter maximum of 6.5,
which was then followed by a long slow decline to minimum.
A similar pattern
can be seen in the light curve for Nova T Auriga 1891 and Nova Cassiopeia 1993
(V705 Cassiopeia).
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