I could have also
That night I star hopped right where the nova should be and starred and starred and starred and....for a very long time and saw a fuzzy light. The photo I took confirms the location where I was observing but when you take a 25 second image you produce objects you don't see as well through limited optics and the fuzzy star I saw didn't look as prominent as the one in the photo.
Hey we did our best for the short window and thanks for getting me out for the challenge. I enjoyed it.