There is a new supernova in the night sky, too dim to see even with most astronomical telescopes. The nova was spotted back in May and it continues to gain the interest of astronomers. The nova is in Ursa Major, a constellation overhead, more familiarly known as the Big Dipper. The nova is in an area of the constellation, just above the Big Dipper's handle. Astronomers named it Supernova 2023ixf and it was discovered by a Japanese amateur astronomer Koichi Itagaki on May 19. There is a lot of excitement about this star, as it sits on the fringe of a large galaxy, nicknamed the Pinwheel Galaxy, also more formally known as M101. 

You can pick out the galaxy using a star chart, a dark night and a minimum telescope. Binoculars will show the galaxy as a faint smudge of light.

Meanwhile the Internet is alive with all kinds of speculation about a closer star, one of the brightest stars in our winter sky, Betelgeuse. Betelgeuse is in the constellation Orion, and it is just starting to show up in the Eastern sky before sunrise. The star has risen in brightness significantly and many astronomers wonder whether the star will become a super nova. It is widely understood that the star will explode in the next 1,000 to 100,000 years. The star has varied in brightness considerably in the last few years. A few years ago the star dropped in brightness. Last winter it was close to its usual level of brilliance with only slight change. Now it has brightened. What ever happens, we'll all watch that star more closely in the coming months and years.

Were Betelgeuse to go super nova, the star may rival the full moon in brightness, according to astronomers.