From jop at astro.columbia.edu  Mon Feb  5 16:18:46 2001
From: jop at astro.columbia.edu (Joe Patterson)
Date: Mon, 5 Feb 2001 16:18:46 -0500 (EST)
Subject: (cba:news) New stars for February
Message-ID: <Pine.SOL.4.05.10102051552370.25268-100000@tristram.phys.columbia.edu>


Dear CBAers,

Some news on individual stars...

Thanks to Fred and Jennie's determination, we now have an orbital timing
for T Pyx.  I didn't think it would come out so quickly, but it did; the
average waveform, given sufficient data, is remarkably stable.  We can
forget Mister TPyx till next year (unless it erupts!)  Staying southern
...TW Pic should still be minded for another 2-3 weeks, and RR Pic is also
good for another month.  As usual, it's a good idea to stay faithful to
one star.  Slightly later in the night, there's SW Sex, which will be
mainly our March target, but it's a good time to start it up.

In the north, many people are having trouble with RZ LMi at quiescence,
where it now resides (unless it just went into a short outburst, which is
certainly possible).  I guess if your data is very noisy on this star,
then it's best to WAIT till the next superoutburst (calculated to be
JD 951+-2) and then cover it.  That would accomplish one of our two main
goals (after sampling a bunch of SOs), to see if the superhumps remember
their phase.  Folks with the bigger scopes and/or darker skies can then do
the quiescent light curve.  Here are the two stars I recommend instead:
BH Lyn (previously described) and BP Lyn (also known as PG0859+415 and
KUV0859+415 and Lyn 1).  As usual, select one and observe it to
smithereens.

   joe



From jop at astro.columbia.edu  Tue Feb 13 12:42:33 2001
From: jop at astro.columbia.edu (Joe Patterson)
Date: Tue, 13 Feb 2001 12:42:33 -0500 (EST)
Subject: (cba:news) Brian's report from the tundra
Message-ID: <Pine.SOL.4.05.10102131237430.3464-100000@tristram.phys.columbia.edu>


O ye of boreal regions!

Our little friend has erupted again, as you can see from Brian's
report of last night's observations.  Get thee to a telescope and
let's do a great job on RZ LMi's present superoutburst!

   joe

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Tue, 13 Feb 2001 09:59:38 MDT
From: BRIAN MARTIN <bmartin at KingsU.ab.ca>
To: jop at astro.columbia.edu
Subject: (cba:news) RZ LMi

Hi Joe

Got excellent coverage on RZ LMi last night - about 7+ hours.  Star is 
brighter than last outburst and SH's are quite prominent.  Data has been 
posted and the LC is at the CBA_Alberta web site:
http://www.kingsu.ab.ca/%7Ebrian/astro/cba_alta/data_archive/rzlmi/rzlmi.ht
ml

Cheers

Brian





From jop at astro.columbia.edu  Sun Feb 25 14:57:23 2001
From: jop at astro.columbia.edu (Joe Patterson)
Date: Sun, 25 Feb 2001 14:57:23 -0500 (EST)
Subject: (cba:news) CP Dra - a new UGSU type variable (fwd)
Message-ID: <Pine.SOL.4.05.10102251453120.21522-100000@tristram.phys.columbia.edu>

Dear CBAers,

     This sure looks like a winner to me!  Let's help out our Old World
friend with photometry of this newly discovered superhumper.  Coords in
Tonny's other message.

               joe


Dear colleagues,

I'm conducting a CCD photometry session on CP Dra, using the 0.35-m f/6.3
telescope at CBA Belgium Observatory [2001, February 24/25]. FITS images are
acquired with an ST-7 CCD camera without filters, and are instanteneously
processed and reduced (aperture photometry). After 2.5 hours of working, the
resulting real-time light curve already clearly shows the presence of a 0.31
mag modulation, to be attributed to superhumps. A first rough estimate of
the superhump period yields a value of 0.0687 +- 0.0007 d.

The above observations thus establish CP Dra as a new member of the UGSU
type of cataclysmic variables !

Further high-speed photometry is highly recommended, to settle the precise
superhump period value. Support from other observatories would be highly
appreciated.

Best regards,

Tonny Vanmunster
CBA Belgium Observatory




From jop at astro.columbia.edu  Wed Feb 28 11:44:36 2001
From: jop at astro.columbia.edu (Joe Patterson)
Date: Wed, 28 Feb 2001 11:44:36 -0500 (EST)
Subject: (cba:news) March stars
Message-ID: <200102281644.LAA08297@tristram.phys.columbia.edu>


Dear CBAers,

Further update on targets for photometry:

                     SOUTHERN STARS

   A couple weeks ago, Robert Rea and Maria Marsh brought our
TW Pic campaign to an end, basically by blanket coverage
which will never be improved! (Except possibly from multiple
longitudes.)  Now they have done the same for RR Pic.  The
results of the two campaigns were virtually opposite: TW Pic
is obviously a long-period star (Porb in the range 6-10 hr)
with an extraordinarily complex power spectrum, while RR Pic
is a 3.5 hr star with a very stable light curve and power
spectrum.  The data in hand are sufficient - we can let
theses stars rest in peace for a few years.

   With its enormously long observing season, AH Men (=Men 1
=H0616-81 =H0551-819) is now the best southern target.  We've
had campaigns in some previous years, but never with the very
strong NZ/AU coverage we have now.  It appears to have THREE
closely spaced periods, representing Porb and positive and
negative superhumps.  We'd like to track the signals
continuously for a few months, and see how the two humps
change in amplitude as the disk flails about and wobbles.

   The other southern (actually equatorial) target is SW Sex,
the prototype of the SW Sex stars.  We've still not carried
out a significant search for humps in this famous but elusive
star.

                      NORTHERN STARS

   Northern nights are still long, but some of our heaviest
North American artillery (Daves East and West, and Cap'n Bob)
have been off the air for various reasons.  Yesterday I
received the magic coded message from Dave East - "Sats in
the can".  Like other famous coded messages of the past
("Climb Mount Niitaka", "The Italian navigator has discovered
the new world"), this one carried the essential data - and
also released CBA-East for its customary tasks.  So we'll
do a better job now helping Tonny and Brian Martin and John
Stull keep watch over the northern sky.

   Tonny and Brian have done a good job on CP Dra, the newly
discovered dwarf nova.  This is definitely an interesting
star to follow for a while.  I presume it will soon fade from
visibility, but keep up the good work!

   The RZ LMi campaign is going well in superoutburst
(gorgeous humps, data available on request) but not so well
in quiescence - still haven't got the needed coverage in
quiescence.  Let's keep the faith!

   Finally there's BP Lyn = PG0859+415 = Lyn 1.  Still no
data at all on this star.  But as an eclipsing SW Sexer, it
is a prime candidate for great superhumps.  Still some time
to move on this guy.

   And SW Sex itself, it would be a fine time to begin coverage
of this star.  As usual, the best approach is to select one of
these stars and hang onto it until it surrenders (or we surrender,
or you surrender).

So:    AH MEN  and  SW SEX  in the south 
       CP DRA, RZ LMI, BP LYN, SW SEX  in the north


            joe