V838 Herculis, also known as Nova Herculis 1991, was a nova which occurred in the constellation Hercules in 1991. It was discovered by George Alcock of Yaxley, Cambridgeshire, England at 4:35 UT on the morning of 25 March 1991. He found it with 10×50 binoculars, and on that morning its apparent visual magnitude was 5 (making it visible to the naked eye). Palomar Sky Survey plates showed that before the outburst, the star was at photographic magnitude 20.6 (blue light) and 18.25 (red light).