Harvard Observatory Staff Reports Unusual Nova Find

Astronomers at the Harvard Observatory reported today that the Wachmann Nova, an exploding star discovered in January by Dr. A. A. Wachmann of the Bergedorf Observatory, Germany, is probably a "slow nova," of which only one example has previously been found.

The ordinary nova is a star which flares up suddenly, usually increasing its brightness by several thousand times in a few days; then it fades, in a month or two, to about half its maximum brightness, passing through several different physical stages, as revealed by its spectrum.

The Wachmann Nova, however, is expected to change perhaps fifty times as slowly as the ordinary nova, thus allowing astronomers to study its phenomena with careful observations. The nova is located in the constellation Orion.