(cba:news) BC UMa

[Joe Patterson]

Dear CBAers,

We've been waiting a long time for BC UMa to go into superoutburst. Over
the last 3 years we've derived a precise orbital period for it, and the
result was surprising because it was slightly *longer* than the period
previously reported for its superhumps.  Presumably the latter estimate is
a little off, but we needed a new superoutburst to measure this.  Now we
have it!  Pretty cooperative time of year too.

So we should definitely add BC UMa to the other two primary targets
(the UMa transient and CR Boo).  I give BC UMa a somewhat higher priority
since we've been waiting a long time and know exactly what we plan to do
with the data (X-ray transients are more speculative, since they often do
not reveal their most interesting properties in photometry).

Nice collection of three objects, lots of fascinating astrophysics there!

BC UMa underlines a famous old theorem in eruptive variables - the most
interesting eruptions occur when you're on vacation!


     joe