stars for July 2010

From: Joe Patterson <*jop_at_astro.columbia.edu*> Date: Mon, 12 Jul 2010 09:00:51 -0400 · jop_at_astro.columbia.edu

   
                                                             July 12, 2010.
Dear CBAers,

    Yesterday's mixed-martial-arts competition, sometimes called the World
Cup final, went as expected (1-0)... based on the number of CBA stations.
Enrique de Miguel joined up in the last year, and the Dutch failed to
respond by enrolling even a single station.  Neither the solar eclipse,
nor their obvious kick-boxing skills, would bail them out.

    The response to OT1625+12 has been overwhelming!  Have European skies
been perfect everywhere for the last week?  Anyway, our data is now very
complete and very detailed.  The star is still bright and worth following...
but it's shaping up as a fairly commonplace dwarf nova, not quite worth
writing Mama about.  Still a fine object to follow until it gets faint.
Thanks especially to Simon Lowther, who has been tracking it from NZ -
"wrong latitude" observations from NZ/AU have always been critical for
us, since we have a big longitude gap across the Pacific and east Asia.
   
    It's the last 7-8 days for GW Lib.  Berto's recent coverage define the
4.2 hour signal very well, and another 7 days would enable a good test
for coherence (and, if coherent, would define the period much better).
I greatly hope for a flurry of time series over the next week - then
we'll definitely quit.  BTW if you can get *calibrated* photometry (V and
whatever else), that would be great (not necessarily time series, just
average V).

    Still too early to assess HS1813+61 and V1315 Aql.  Keep observing,
I should have a report within a few days.  V603 Aql is more obviously
good, but you might want to "keep your powder dry" until the Moon gets
bright.

    Finally, there's V442 Oph, one of our old faves.  This star is now
in a low state at V=17.3, and we've never seen it like that.  In the
present dark-moon phase, V442 Oph should be an accessible target for
most of you, if the skies are good.

    And still hoping for a couple more V4743 Sgr runs.


joe

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