The Missed Night of Nights

Chuck Bueter
Jun 2
3 min read

Monomaniacal pursuits can be fun while you're in the hunt, but the joy evaporates when you lose the prey. I'm focused on a new hunt now, keeping in mind the "oh no!" experience of the famous observer Leslie Peltier in 1946. It didn't always go well for him.

Leslie Peltier accelerated his stargazing interests by building an observatory on a children's merry-go-round and studying the night sky from his backyard. He eventually became one of the most accomplished amateur astronomers, co-discovering a dozen comets and making over 132,000 variable star observations over 60 years.

Among his pursuits was a disciplined watch over key stars such as T Coronae Borealis (T CrB) in the constellation of the Northern Crown, which has a history of exploding as a nova about every 80 years. With the faint star having brightened last in 1946, astronomers are now anticipating the recurring nova to burst anew.

Credit: The University of Connecticut and the Edwin Way Teale collection.

For years leading up to the 20th century outburst, Peltier kept the faith, hoping to catch celestial anomalies early so he could get a visual observation and data with a spectroscope. In his autobiography Starlight Nights: The Adventures of a Star-Gazer, Peltier writes about his experience with the variable star T Coronae Borealis:

“My affair with T Coronae was not a happy one. Normally T was a star that hovered around tenth magnitude until back in May 1866 when it suddenly increased until it was equally as bright as nearby Alphecca, the brightest star in the Northern Crown. In true nova form it soon began to fade and eventually was back as before though with the occasional flutter that seems inherent in the metabolism of some of these stars.

Of all these old novae, T Coronae seemed to me the one most likely to quaff the enchanted herbs of renewal. The star was an easy one to observe regularly as it was located far enough north to be visible at some time nearly every clear night. From 1920 on I watched it closely at every opportunity. For more than twenty-five years I looked in on it from night to night as it tossed and turned in fitful slumber.

Then, one night in February 1946 it stirred, slowly opened its eyes, then quickly threw aside the draperies of its couch and rose! Full eighty years had passed since last the star had shattered the symmetry of the Northern Crown.

And where was I, its self-appointed guardian on that once-in-a-lifetime night when it awoke? I was asleep! I had set the alarm clock for 2:30 A.M. intending to get up and observe some early morning variables. The alarm clock did its part. I looked out the window and the stars were clear and bright, but apparently I was not, for I sneezed once or twice and got the feeling that I was coming down with a cold-or maybe even worse. Self-pity comes easy at 2:30 on a cold February morning so I went back to my warm bed with the comforting thought that I owed it to my family, at least, to take care of my health. And thus I missed the night of nights in the life of T Coronae. It was the night the spectroscopists long for.

It is in those earliest hours of awakening that the newborn star-with all the exuberance of youth, divulges its most intimate secrets. I alone am to blame for being remiss in my duties, nevertheless, I still have the feeling that T could have shown me more consideration. We had been friends for many years; on thousands of nights I had watched over it as it slept and then, it arose in my hour of weakness as I nodded at my post. I still am watching it but now it is with wary eye. There is no warmth between us any more.”

Peltier, Leslie, C. (1965) “Starlight Nights The adventures of a Star-Gazer”, ISBN 0-933346-94-8, Sky Publishing Corporation, Cambridge Mass, 1999, pp. 192-193.

Peltier followed T CrB for over 25 years; I've only been at it since June 2024. I sure hope it "goes nova" soon, for I'm ready to sleep through the night.

You, too, can look for T Coronae Borealis before, during, and after the star's accreted material explodes. Details and finder charts are at https://www.nightwise.org/nova-in-corona-borealis. See also blog posts tagged "nova."