In early March a star exploded to form a super nova appeared in the galaxy NGC 4490 in the constellation Canes Venatici. It is reasonably bright as is the background galaxy. It shows up quite well in this image from my backyard taken through a small telescope.
Details
Date and location - 2008-04-03, Victoria BC.
Equipment - Williams 105mm with modified Canon 350D and 0.8x focal reducer on HEQ5 mount.
Exposures - 37 light and 13 dark frames at ISO 400 for 60s with 20 flat frames for calibration.
Processing - ImagesPlus and Photoshop