One Year Later, Almost 200 Clear-Enough Nights

Mid-June 2024 I took my first image of Corona Borealis with an iPhone camera, for I had been hoping to catch a star explode as a nova visible to the naked eye. One year later I'm still waiting, and still photographing every clear night.

Seven stars of Corona Borealis await the outburst of a stellar brethren, a recurring nova, which would appear outside the lower left curve of the Northern Crown. See https://www.nightwise.org/nova-in-corona-borealis.

The Blaze Star, as it's known, had a history of brightening from tenth magnitude obscurity up to second magnitude visiibility--about as bright as the north star Polaris--every 80 years, with the last outburst being in 1946. Simple math suggests it should happen again in 2026. However, a "pre-eruption dip" in 2024 cajoled some observers into thinking the event was imminent.

I bit. As I pass the one-year mark, I'm posting the images from 196 calendar nights in which it was clear enough to get at least six of the seven prominent stars of Corona Borealis, with a few exceptions showing fewer stars.

One year of Corona Borealis: 196 clear-enough calendar nights through mid-June 2025.

I at least wanted Arcturus, Izar, and Gemma (Alphecca) to be visible to discern whether T Coronae Borealis had "gone nova." If it compares in brightness to its past outbursts, then the Blaze Star would appear as the third second-magnitude star in a line (from Izar to Gemma to the nova).

For example, the night of July 26, 2024, was clear enough to get other images showing all seven stars, but when taken next to the lights of Perry's Victory and International Peace Memorial the full complement of stars did not all appear in the image shown below. The monument was just a good photographic subject. I tend to frame the Crown in trees, too.

From lower right to center are bright Arcturus, then fainter Izar and Gemma (Alphecca). A third second-magnitude star in a row nearer the  Perry's Victory and International Peace Memorial would be the nova T Coronae Borealis. Image from 2024 July 26, 10 PM.

In the gallery below, zoom in to see if you can find the Northern Crown in any given photo. Here's what I've got so far, starting with June 15, 2024 and going through June 14, 2025.