I've posted a deep V-band image covering a 5arcmin square region surrounding the nova on http://ftp.nofs.navy.mil/pub/outgoing/temp/naql99.jpg It goes somewhat deeper than POSS and may give observers an idea of the star density in the immediate region. Also, regarding the .dat file I've posted in the sequence directory, please note that U-B, V-R and R-I are uncalibrated and should not be used. If you want to use V and B-V from this file, see the relations given in an earlier posting. Arne