(cba:news) status of dq hers right now

[Joe Patterson]

Dear CBAers,

I spent the weekend checking all the records of DQ Her-star 
observations, and, for stars in the March sky, found the following.

1. Stars which need no more coverage: V405 Aur, HT Cam, V647 Aur, MU Cam.

2. Stars which need *some* more time series: V418 Gem = RX0704+26, PQ 
Gem (V or similar, please).

3. Stars which have been seldom observed (and therefore are a high 
priority): BG CMi, WX Pyx, V667 Pup = Swift0732-13, IGR1654-19

    Most of these targets are decently bright, and each ~3-hour time 
series yields a useful pulse timing.  Good targets.

    Now for something more ambitious.  IGR J04571+4527 (Masetti et al. 
2010: 04 57 6.98 +45 27 48.5) is a newly discovered 17th mag DQ - let's 
start observing it, if you can handle the somewhat crowded field.  YY 
Dra (or DO Dra) is a well-known DQ; I've always wanted to do a 
period-change study, but it requires LONG runs in blue light (definitely 
not V, unfiltered, etc. - cuz the secondary star is annoyingly bright). 
  March is definitely the right season for the coords (1150+72) - invest 
a very long time series, and see if you can spot that pulse (around 530 
or 265 s)!

    As most of you know, GR Ori has dived faint; whether it'll rise 
again is unknown... though the smart money says yes.

joe