8803, the nova's magnitude was 9.6 when it was discovered on CCD images taken at 20:42 UT on 4 February 2007 by Yuji Nakamura of Kameyama, Mie, Japan.

It was independently discovered on the same night at 20:30 UT by Yukio Sakurai of Mito, Ibaraki, Japan.

The early period after V1280 Scorpii's eruption was observed in great detail by the Solar Mass Ejection Imager (SMEI) instrument on the Coriolis satellite.

[4] The nova declined slowly from peak brightness until the end of February 2007, at which time it began fading rapidly as dust formed in the ejected material.

At the same time dust formation was causing the visual light curve to plummet, the infrared brightness increased.