(cba:news) RZ LMi, The Order of Battle

[Joe Patterson]

Dear CBAers,                                          April 6, 2001

Here's the scoop on RZ LMi so far.  A note on the upcoming whole-earth
campaign will follow later today, with the emphasis on southern and
equatorial targets.

By the way, a few days ago, did anyone notice that the Julian Date
(last 4 digits) was equal to the year?

If so, well... that's too bad.


               RZ LEO MINORIS - THE 2001 CAMPAIGN

     The 2001 campaign on RZ LMi has been going very well.  The star
flashes, and then takes away, its superhumps with great amplitude and
speed, in a pattern too intricate to be resolved by any observations
yet obtained.  There is probably - but not certainly - an orbital
signal in there too, since there are large-amplitude humps seen at
quiescence.  (The problem is that quiescence is very VERY short-lived,
hence we must be awfully vigilant to catch the damn thing quiet for
LONG ENOUGH to measure a period credibly different from the superhump
period.)

     Here's the coverage to date.  The cast of characters is ever-
shifting, like a long-running Broadway play.  Some obvious CBA Hall-of-
Famers (Dave Harvey, Captain Bob, Lasse Jensen) are nowhere to be
found.  Resting, no doubt... they'll be back!  And some active new
people have emerged.  Jeff Robertson and Tut Campbell are making a bid
for Rookie of the Year honors.

     The campaign should be continued all the way through arrival of
the next supermax, which I estimate will be April 17... then tack on 6
more days for the supermax to run its course.  The larger scopes out
there should especially seek coverage when the star is *faint* (17th
mag), since that's when the putative orbital signal pops up.
(Spectroscopy has failed to reveal Porb, and we really need to know
this number.)

     In a few days I'll send all campaigners the densest and best
portions of the 75-day light curve.  But if you'd like all the (raw)
data, I could send that too on request.  I imagine Jeff Robertson will
become the prime mover on the whole project when the time comes to
fully analyze and write up for publication - but it's not settled yet.



RAW DATA (delta-mag time series, before cross-calibrations to bring to
          a uniform scale)

FILE   JD/HJD          PTS  delta-mag and comments

29c    29.8478-.9820   544  <2.48> complex but periodic waveform
30c    30.9468-.0748   520  <0.80> possible tiny humps
31c    31.7097-.7266    47  <0.41>
32ep   32.3485-.5316   129  <0.68>
32js   32.7287-.8202   114  <0.41>
32c    32.7822-.0576   909  <0.35>
33ep   33.4375-.6523   163  <0.78>
33c    33.6934-.0322  1157  <0.43>
34ep   34.3666-.6455   199  <0.81>
34c    34.6824-.0188  1019  <0.53>
34bm   34.7231-.7670    27  <0.62>
35ep   35.3630-.6560    76  <0.90>
35e    35.5813-.9153   448  <0.525>
35c    35.6965-.0243  1302  <0.59>
35bm   35.7792-.8741    66  <0.70>
40c    40.7376-.0221   857  <2.37->2.55>
42jr   42.8819-.0201   141  <2.92>
43jr   43.8121-.9807   131  <2.39->1.50>
43mw
45mw
50tv   50.2588-.5892   225  <1.65> v noisy
52js   52.5493-.7960   541  <0.80->0.67>
53bm   53.6052-.0022   253  <0.42->0.34>
54tv   54.2754-.6256   174  <1.46>
55tv   55.2642-.7263   203  <1.57->1.63>
56tv   56.3982-.7215   279  <1.61>
57jr   57.6158-.8414   187  <0.56>
57bm   57.6020-.8506   161  <0.74->0.67>
58jh   58.5131-.6626    90  <-.70> noisy
58jr   58.6269-.9094   197  <0.62>
58bm   58.6464-.9527   152  <0.74> weak humps
59js   59.5093-.8811   856  <0.78>
60jr   60.6687-.7559    63  <0.78>
61jr   61.6612-.6869     9  <1.14>
62js   62.7128-.9158   470  <2.25->2.41> nice humps
63jr   63.5661-.6705    59  <2.63>
64js   64.7125-.9051   428  <1.65->1.30->1.18>
66jr   66.6160-.8959   200  <2.02->2.27>
67js   67.5389-.7565   435  <2.45->2.51> nice humps
67jr   67.5732-.8447   108  <2.42>
69e    69.4982-.6631   197  <2.53->2.40>
72js   72.5939-.7140
73jr   73.6585-.8806   139  <2.28->1.90>
73tk   73.7561-.8590    45  <2.0->1.9>
74jr   74.6142-.9709   174  <0.40> great humps
76jr   76.7375-.9023    99  <0.32>
78jr   78.5587-.8175   113  <0.53>
78bm   78.6134-.6872    21  <0.67>
79lc   79.6536-.8290    59  <0.67> noisy
80tk   80.7431-.8710    86  <0.59->0.62> no hump
81tk   81.7400-.8799    94  <0.64->0.66>
81jr   81.7287-.8965   113  <0.69->0.73>
82e    82.5191-.6172   135  <-0.15> humps
82jr   82.5770-.9202   241  <0.80> still humping
83js   83.6164-.7132   104  <1.42->1.54>
84tk   84.7320-.8951    57  <2.35->2.43>
85jr   85.5580-.9370   211  <2.70> giant humps
86jr   86.5880-.8912   170  <1.75->1.15->0.96>
87e    87.5158-.6629   203  <0.05>
87js   87.5653-.8492   576  <1.10->1.46> shumps returning
88e    88.5268-.6607   190  <1.08> humps
88js   88.5472-.8405   424  <2.13->2.38> great humps
88tk   88.7224-.8642    50  <2.16->2.24>
88jr   88.7701-.9365    87  <2.22->2.44> no visible humps
89jr   89.6498-.9088   152  <2.52> giant humps
91jr   91.6182-.8998    42  <2.4> useless
92e    92.5553-.6860   184  <-0.23> rising to max, no humps
93jr   93.5901-.9188   191  <1.03->1.20>
94jr   94.5799-.9179   195  <0.67->0.51>
95js   95.5190-.7676   373  <0.40>
95jr   95.6468-.9128   136  <0.29->0.42>
96e    96.5499-.6977   210  <-0.56->-0.75>
97e    97.5214-.6213   142  <-0.54>
97js   97.5239-.6919   182  <0.54>
98bm   98.7479-.8349    53  <1.78> still a good shump
99tk   99.6924-.8596   108  <0.53->0.60> still a good shump
100tk 100.6525-.8321   116  <0.65->0.69> still a good shump
102tk 102.6728-.8735    57  <0.70->0.76> not a useful time series
103tk 103.6678-.9094    81  <1.20->1.54>

CONTRIBUTING STATIONS                    SOME PRELIMINARY CALIBS

c   Jonathan                          C-E = 0.12       BM-C = 0.10
ep  Elena Pavlenko                    EP-C = 0.25    BM-JR = 0.13
e   East (Dave Skillman)              JS-JR = 0.07   JR-TK = 0.08
js  John Stull and Dave Toot          JR-E = 0.95    JS-E = 1.10
tv  Tonny Vanmunster
bm  Brian Martin
lc  Lew Cook
tk  Tom and Lou Krajci
jr  Jeff Robertson and Tut Campbell
jh  Jim Hannon
mw  Matt Wood