I'm pretty sure now the star I mentioned in my earlier report was not the nova.

I finally got a good clear night, and I broke out the heavy metal, my 11x80 binoculars. Using your AAVSO finder chart and my Millennium Atlas I was able to star hop right to the spot--and there was nothing there. It must have dimmed below my limiting magnitude (around 9 or 10). I know I was in the right spot because Millennium shows a mag 7 or 8 star about 6' N at the same RA, which I could easily see, but there was nothing else there.

As a consolation prize, I did get a satellite (about mag 4) slowly creeping through the field, headed E, alternately brightening and dimming as it tumbled through space. It was spooky. It must have been high up there, because it was moving very slowly and was still catching sunlight at 10 PM local time.