If the Nova is a Supernova occuring in the Galaxy NGC 996...
NGC 996 is a very distant globular cluster on the far side of the universe composed of several billion stars, proving that it only takes one bad apple to bring attention to the whole barrel.

 

cool.... looks like ngc999 is consuming some neighbors.

 

To rephrase Thunder's question: What do a Ford, Chevy and Porsche have in common??

 

I like this pair of pictures. NGC 996 has a single Supernova occuring deep inside its family of billions of stars, yet the single explosion is so intense it makes the entire galaxy stand out. NGC 996 is part of a triplet of galaxies that includes NGC 999 and, strangely, NGC 995, and within the universe, they are relatively close. Remember that this is a four dimensional photograph. Yet, they are no closer to each other than the galaxy Andromeda (our nearest galactic neighor) is to our own Milky Way. NGC 996 is a globular cluster meaning that it is not a flat-ish disc with spiral arms like NGC 999 (which is similar to our Milky Way disc with two main spirals). NGC 999 is a spiral, and NCG 1001 is an oval.
Here is where the photo and the digital scan get interesting: the round objects with the spikes at the cardinal headings are all singular stars in our own Milky Way galaxy, not in deep space. The reason for the spikes is that they are light echoes off the structure of the telescope caused by the long time over which the exposure was taken and the focus on deep space rather than inside the Milky Way. To test this simply, hold up a finger at arms length and focus on it. Then focus on something distant beyond it and your finger will go fuzzy or appear to be double.
So the spikey ones in this set are close stars in the Milky Way. The spirals and globs and dots are all galaxies far across the universe. All of the labled targets are galaxies.

Next is my favorite picture from Hubell, is brand new since the service update a few months ago, and also looks into deep space far beyond our galaxy. Again, objects with spikes at the cardinal headings are stars in the foreground inside out own galaxy. This event was shot over 9 hours, and looked at a spot in space that was completely black to our eyes and most telescopes and initally thought to be completely empty. Scientists were curious as to why this particular sector of the universe was dark. Then Hubell focussed it's strongest eyes into that area. What a surprise!

Here is a link to the webpage:
http://hubblesite.org/gallery/album/...se/pr2004028b/

 

And here is the actual shot. If you are capable, this shot is extremely detailed, over 40 MB by itself. Make certain you are ready for this before downloading it. EVERY spot of light in this photo (except the spikes) is a GALAXY, not a star! The cross section of this photo is equal to your pinky fingernail held at arms length to the sky. If you are capable of downloading the high resolution version you will be astounded.