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A Nova visible to the naked eye Erupts in Centaurus
Nova Centauri 2013 imaged from São Paulo, Brazil. (Credit: Ednilson Oliveira).
If you live in the southern hemisphere, the southern sky constellation of Centaurus may look a little different to you tonight, as a bright nova has been identified in the region early this week.
The initial discovery of Nova Centauri 2013 (Nova Cen 2013) was made by observer John Seach based out of Chatsworth Island in New South Wales Australia. The preliminary discovery magnitude for Nova Cen 2013 was magnitude +5.5, just above naked eye visibility from a good dark sky site. Estimates by observers over the past 24 hours place Nova Cen 2013 between magnitudes +4 and +5 “with a bullet,” meaning this one may get brighter still as the week progresses.
All indications are that Nova Cen 2013 is a classical nova, a white dwarf star accreting matter from a binary companion until a new round of nuclear fusion occurs. Recurrent novae such as T Pyxidis or U Scorpii may erupt erratically in this fashion over the span of decades.
Read more: http://www.universetoday.com/106932/a-naked-eye-nova-erupts-in-centaurus/
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Here I am in the national forest in Michigan and I could be "fucking penguins with Jacques Cousteau." 
(Name the cultural allusion.)
Still waiting for the next visible Milky Way supernova. It's been hundreds of years. Hope it's Betelgeuse which ought to be a ripping one, likely visible even during daytime. As long as it's not a Southern Hemisphere one. Australia already has the best stars. I mean, they have the Carinae nebula, Alpha Centauri, Omega Centauri, the Magellanic clouds, all the really cool stuff. Let us have the big supernova.
