From jop at astro.columbia.edu Mon May 5 14:51:22 2003 From: jop at astro.columbia.edu (Joe Patterson) Date: Mon, 5 May 2003 14:51:22 -0400 (EDT) Subject: (cba:news) OU Vir, yeah, yeah, yeah Message-ID: Dear CBAers, OU Vir just jumped into superoutburst, and this is a great opportunity for us since it is another eclipser - definitely our favorite beast (since the eclipses can be used to define the shape of the accretion disk). Smack dab on the equator, transiting near local midnight. Fire all available weaponry, we probably won't get another opportunity quite like this for many years. The position appears to be 14h 35m 00.1s -00d 46m 07s -- but someone should check this since I don't seem to have any internet information access right now. Great target - get thee to a telescope! joe From jop at astro.columbia.edu Mon May 5 15:11:17 2003 From: jop at astro.columbia.edu (Joe Patterson) Date: Mon, 5 May 2003 15:11:17 -0400 (EDT) Subject: (cba:news) OU Vir last time around Message-ID: Tonny, Fred, and Jennie patched together a few nights of photometry during 2000, establishing the basic eclipse and superhump periods (IBVS 4955). This is our opportunity to do much better, with such great timing available. The position I cited appears to be correct within maybe 2 arcsec. The field looks simple enough (in Downes CV catalogue). joe From jop at astro.columbia.edu Mon May 5 17:04:26 2003 From: jop at astro.columbia.edu (Joe Patterson) Date: Mon, 5 May 2003 17:04:26 -0400 (EDT) Subject: (cba:news) OU Vir comp Message-ID: Looks like a good CBA comp star is the guy 2.4 arcmin ENE from the CV. This is star 4 on Arne's sequence, with V=14.35, B-V=0.91. A s'kosh on the red side for us, but it'll do. It just barely sneaks onto the Downes and Shara finding chart, which is nice. Arne's website also tells you about a new variable star 4' W and 1' S from the CV. You might be interested in studying that one too. I dunno what it is, although Nogami reports that it eclipses. joe From jop at astro.columbia.edu Tue May 6 19:10:13 2003 From: jop at astro.columbia.edu (Joe Patterson) Date: Tue, 6 May 2003 19:10:13 -0400 (EDT) Subject: (cba:news) May stars Message-ID: Dear CBAers, Let's see, I think I left out RX Vol, the other erupting southern SU UMa star. That one is flashing very nice superhumps, and is a great early-night target for the australites... with OU Vir as the follow-on. EX Hya can take a little rest to let these stars make their little waves in the CBA spotlight. OU Vir is fine for the north too, about as hemisphere-neutral as they come. The other excellent northern object is RX0625+73. I've got a lot on that from Dave Messier, with his little refractor in cloud-infested Connecticut. How about you guys out there with your giant telescopes and excellent skies? joe From jop at astro.columbia.edu Tue May 13 09:46:13 2003 From: jop at astro.columbia.edu (Joe Patterson) Date: Tue, 13 May 2003 09:46:13 -0400 (EDT) Subject: (cba:news) Lunar Invasions Message-ID: Dear CBAers, Well, despite the exciting prospect of this week's eclipse, we have the gloomy spectacle of Olde Whiteface ravaging our favorite stars for a few days starting tonight. OU Vir is sure to be a casualty for both hemisphers (except maybe *during* the eclipse, ha, ha, ha). EX Hya, bright as it is, might get some rough treatment. It seems like WX Cen might be the best target for these moonlit nights. And OU Vir may be too faint when the Moon clears outa the way. Anyway, EX Hya and WX Cen are both very fine southern targets for the present and future. BTW some very fine OU data rolling in. Please write if you'd like to play with it, I'll send the lot. In the north, I'm still hoping for RX0625+73 coverage. Dave Messier seems to be able to follow it for many hours, but other CBAers have been silent. Are there too many trees on CBA northwestern horizons? Jonathan, can you check the prices on bulk purchases of chainsaws? Other good northern targets are HZ Her and MV Lyr, and LX Ser. The latter star resisted a fairly lame campaign in 1996 - time for a better attack! joe From jop at astro.columbia.edu Tue May 13 09:52:31 2003 From: jop at astro.columbia.edu (Joe Patterson) Date: Tue, 13 May 2003 09:52:31 -0400 (EDT) Subject: (cba:news) IAUC 8131: 2003ef; V4743 Sgr (fwd) Message-ID: Oh yeah - I was very fascinated to read this yesterday! I imagine some of you (Berto?) keep up with young southern novae better than I do. Can anyone clarify whether this is a feasible target for a CBA study? If it is, it could be quite a wonderful star to pursue with time series during May-June-July. We'll try to get something in AZ this week, but of course are limited to short runs by the sky placement. joe Circular No. 8131 Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams INTERNATIONAL ASTRONOMICAL UNION Mailstop 18, Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, Cambridge, MA 02138, U.S.A. IAUSUBS at CFA.HARVARD.EDU or FAX 617-495-7231 (subscriptions) CBAT at CFA.HARVARD.EDU (science) URL http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/iau/cbat.html ISSN 0081-0304 Phone 617-495-7440/7244/7444 (for emergency use only) V4743 SAGITTARII M. Orio, Italian National Institute for Astrophysics at Turin, and University of Wisconsin; E. Leibowitz, Tel Aviv University; and P. Rodriguez, European Space Agency, report (on behalf of a team including V. Burwitz, R. Gonzalez-Riestra, Y. Lipkin, J. U. Ness, S. Starrfield, and M. Still) that V4743 Sgr was observed as a target-of-opportunity with the XMM-Newton satellite beginning on Apr. 4.921 UT for about 10 hr: "The EPIC-pn count rate in 'timing mode' was 1348.0 +/- 0.3 counts/s in the range 0.2-10 keV. The average absorbed flux the range 0.2-2 keV was about 1.5 x 10**-9 erg cm**-2 s**-1, as high as was observed in the first half of the previous x-ray observation with Chandra (IAUC 8107). The spectrum was extremely soft with absorption features, which we attribute to the central white-dwarf atmosphere. Preliminary results from the lightcurve analysis reveal that the peak in the power spectrum reported on IAUC 8107 is now resolved into two separate peaks, P_1 = 1309.5 s and Q_2 = 1375 s. The first overtone of P_1 is also present in the power spectrum. The period Q_2 seems to be the first overtone of a fundamental periodicity, P_2 = 2746 s, that appears significantly in the power spectrum, although with much smaller power. A third period, P_3 = 1656 s, is probably also present. Despite variability by up to about 20 pecent, the x-ray flux never decreased to the level observed at the end of the recent Chandra observation (IAUC 8107). If an eclipse caused the obscuration observed with Chandra, the orbital period must be longer than 10 hr. We urge optical photometry to detect the orbital period, in order to understand the mechanism that obscured the strongest x-ray source in Mar. 2003." CCD V magnitudes measured by J. D. West, Mulvane, KS: 2002 Sept. 24.094 UT, 6.40; 29.073, 7.31; Oct. 21.060, 9.11; 2003 Mar. 21.587, 11.34; 26.574, 11.48; Apr. 4.573, 11.54; 5.570, 11.58; 7.538, 11.49; 9.528, 11.54; 14.523, 11.54; 17.530, 11.69; 21.419, 11.62; 26.553, 11.34; 29.428, 11.68. (C) Copyright 2003 CBAT 2003 May 12 (8131) Daniel W. E. Green From jop at astro.columbia.edu Wed May 28 17:36:23 2003 From: jop at astro.columbia.edu (Joe Patterson) Date: Wed, 28 May 2003 17:36:23 -0400 (EDT) Subject: (cba:news) stars for june (and may) Message-ID: Dear CBAers, Sorry for the long silence. A long observing run really knocked me out. But now I've gotten pretty caught up, so here goes. OU Vir seems to have given up the ghost a few days ago, so it's disappeared from the CBA world. We'll definitely patch together a nice paper with outburst coverage, coupled with photometry from the MDM 1.3 m which we'll get in June. We got great coverage of LX Ser from Lew Cook and Cap'n Bob, and some from Tonny. But the star absolutely refused to show any kind of superhump (to 0.02 mag limits). The mean orbital light curve is given in the attachment; it's a cutie, use it any way you might like. The mean time of minimum light is JD 777.8707 (this is the average over ten straight nights of coverage). Anyway, exit stage right for LX Ser. RX Vol and GZ Cnc gave up the ghost a long time ago, as most of you know. We got about 50 days on HZ Her, definitely enough for the season. Likewise for WX Cen, EX Hya, and IM Nor. Successful campaigns all. So that's a nice collection of stars to take OFF our list. What remains? Well, from the list in the last message there's still RX0625+73, RX1548-45, MV Lyr, and V4743 Sgr (1901-22). These are still great targets - we love 'em all! And here are the new entrants for June... Lib3 (1450-24). Allegedly a 14.6 mag novalike, mighty bright, easy field, nicely placed, a CBA green-light special. Go for it. RX1643+34. One of nice stars from last year, with a whopping QPO - the biggest in captivity. Still a QPO, or has it (he hopes!) morphed into something different? At 12.7, good for small scopers. V1494 Aql (1923+05). Time to revisit after its solar sojourn. The "Biosphere Nova"... now showing a strong orbital modulation, and possibly more. Time to make some new friends! joe -------------- next part -------------- 1 .3936222 2 .353235 3 .2819316 4 .227979 5 .1894136 6 .1575824 7 .1365875 8 .1215111 9 9.294737E-02 10 5.705263E-02 11 5.561875E-02 12 2.183684E-02 13 3.450555E-02 14 2.034546E-02 15 1.578947E-02 16 2.725556E-02 17 2.190455E-02 18 1.678947E-02 19 1.883913E-02 20 1.855294E-02 21 2.279048E-02 22 8.133331E-03 23 -2.049997E-04 24 1.002727E-02 25 1.478421E-02 26 1.619545E-02 27 1.251875E-02 28 7.822729E-03 29 3.061112E-03 30 -1.661111E-03 31 -1.918421E-02 32 -9.955553E-03 33 -6.045454E-03 34 4.817647E-03 35 -.01391 36 2.289474E-02 37 1.668422E-03 38 5.704763E-03 39 .0243 40 7.142859E-03 41 .0124579 42 1.409474E-02 43 2.545909E-02 44 .02545 45 2.414091E-02 46 2.182222E-02 47 2.314211E-02 48 2.516316E-02 49 2.146842E-02 50 1.675455E-02 51 5.155556E-03 52 3.114583E-02 53 .02276 54 2.111429E-02 55 1.908095E-02 56 1.917222E-02 57 1.130455E-02 58 3.083158E-02 59 2.086364E-02 60 .0162875 61 3.188891E-03 62 -.016895 63 -.0145 64 -2.501429E-02 65 -3.268751E-03 66 -1.072222E-02 67 6.831251E-03 68 -3.268749E-03 69 1.768125E-02 70 5.835293E-03 71 2.605555E-03 72 -3.077777E-03 73 -.0229875 74 -1.313334E-02 75 -2.637059E-02 76 -1.649474E-02 77 -1.165263E-02 78 -1.288824E-02 79 -8.17143E-03 80 -2.448823E-02 81 -5.200001E-03 82 -1.938095E-03 83 -1.254706E-02 84 -.01249 85 -2.700001E-03 86 -1.952941E-03 87 2.584211E-03 88 5.192857E-03 89 1.234211E-02 90 3.080001E-03 91 2.242632E-02 92 -2.294118E-03 93 5.562501E-03 94 -3.905001E-03 95 -3.057895E-03 96 8.514999E-03 97 -.011525 98 6.972222E-03 99 -.003265 100 .0032125 101 -7.091305E-03 102 -1.293333E-02 103 .001245 104 -.03503 105 -1.516316E-02 106 -1.100952E-02 107 -.00656 108 -1.573684E-02 109 -3.592353E-02 110 -.006055 111 -1.805263E-02 112 -.023345 113 -2.263158E-02 114 -1.095294E-02 115 -4.879999E-03 116 -.015605 117 -6.605263E-03 118 -.01162 119 -1.087778E-02 120 .01585 121 4.131818E-03 122 4.738889E-03 123 1.081111E-02 124 2.343158E-02 125 2.736471E-02 126 1.518947E-02 127 1.403889E-02 128 3.963636E-03 129 5.370589E-03 130 -3.555555E-03 131 -1.89524E-03 132 -5.062499E-03 133 -1.771428E-03 134 -1.431875E-02 135 5.752941E-03 136 -.01627 137 -2.244375E-02 138 -8.924998E-03 139 -1.459444E-02 140 -1.273125E-02 141 -2.593182E-02 142 -4.132941E-02 143 -3.018572E-02 144 -5.404445E-02 145 -3.976667E-02 146 -3.899474E-02 147 -.058005 148 -5.065834E-02 149 -6.718571E-02 150 -5.413044E-02 151 -7.406112E-02 152 -5.571053E-02 153 -6.927391E-02 154 -7.103333E-02 155 -6.315217E-02 156 -9.187895E-02 157 -.05824 158 -8.809524E-02 159 -6.759546E-02 160 -6.679131E-02 161 -5.928421E-02 162 -4.947273E-02 163 -6.017619E-02 164 -.04602 165 -4.190476E-02 166 -.035245 167 -.01974 168 -.02865 169 -4.491304E-03 170 -.011345 171 .02643 172 .037405 173 .052235 174 .080515 175 .116055 176 .1828045 177 .2467177 178 .3553722 179 .4473273 180 .5589236 181 .7040696 182 .8521279 183 1.01805 184 1.212753 185 1.352055 186 1.52641 187 1.733863 188 1.827546 189 1.852437 190 1.799686 191 1.66656 192 1.5327 193 1.385881 194 1.23886 195 1.070779 196 .9311944 197 .813535 198 .6787218 199 .5749106 200 .4708763 201 .3936222 202 .353235 203 .2819316 204 .227979 205 .1894136 206 .1575824 207 .1365875 208 .1215111 209 .09294737 210 .05705263 211 .05561875 212 .02183684 213 .03450555 214 .02034546 215 .01578947 216 .02725556 217 .02190455 218 .01678947 219 .01883913 220 .01855294 221 .02279048 222 .008133331 223 -.0002049997 224 .01002727 225 .01478421 226 .01619545 227 .01251875 228 .007822729 229 .003061112 230 -.001661111 231 -.01918421 232 -.009955553 233 -.006045454 234 .004817647 235 -.01391 236 .02289474 237 .001668422 238 .005704763 239 .0243 240 .007142859 241 .0124579 242 .01409474 243 .02545909 244 .02545 245 .02414091 246 .02182222 247 .02314211 248 .02516316 249 .02146842 250 .01675455 251 .005155556 252 .03114583 253 .02276 254 .02111429 255 .01908095 256 .01917222 257 .01130455 258 .03083158 259 .02086364 260 .0162875 261 .003188891 262 -.016895 263 -.0145 264 -.02501429 265 -.003268751 266 -.01072222 267 .006831251 268 -.003268749 269 .01768125 270 .005835293 271 .002605555 272 -.003077777 273 -.0229875 274 -.01313334 275 -.02637059 276 -.01649474 277 -.01165263 278 -.01288824 279 -.00817143 280 -.02448823 281 -.005200001 282 -.001938095 283 -.01254706 284 -.01249 285 -.002700001 286 -.001952941 287 .002584211 288 .005192857 289 .01234211 290 .003080001 291 .02242632 292 -.002294118 293 .005562501 294 -.003905001 295 -.003057895 296 .008514999 297 -.011525 298 .006972222 299 -.003265 300 .0032125 301 -.007091305 302 -.01293333 303 .001245 304 -.03503 305 -.01516316 306 -.01100952 307 -.00656 308 -.01573684 309 -.03592353 310 -.006055 311 -.01805263 312 -.023345 313 -.02263158 314 -.01095294 315 -.004879999 316 -.015605 317 -.006605263 318 -.01162 319 -.01087778 320 .01585 321 .004131818 322 .004738889 323 .01081111 324 .02343158 325 .02736471 326 .01518947 327 .01403889 328 .003963636 329 .005370589 330 -.003555555 331 -.00189524 332 -.005062499 333 -.001771428 334 -.01431875 335 .005752941 336 -.01627 337 -.02244375 338 -.008924998 339 -.01459444 340 -.01273125 341 -.02593182 342 -.04132941 343 -.03018572 344 -.05404445 345 -.03976667 346 -.03899474 347 -.058005 348 -.05065834 349 -.06718571 350 -.05413044 351 -.07406112 352 -.05571053 353 -.06927391 354 -.07103333 355 -.06315217 356 -.09187895 357 -.05824 358 -.08809524 359 -.06759546 360 -.06679131 361 -.05928421 362 -.04947273 363 -.06017619 364 -.04602 365 -.04190476 366 -.035245 367 -.01974 368 -.02865 369 -.004491304 370 -.011345 371 .02643 372 .037405 373 .052235 374 .080515 375 .116055 376 .1828045 377 .2467177 378 .3553722 379 .4473273 380 .5589236 381 .7040696 382 .8521279 383 1.01805 384 1.212753 385 1.352055 386 1.52641 387 1.733863 388 1.827546 389 1.852437 390 1.799686 391 1.66656 392 1.5327 393 1.385881 394 1.23886 395 1.070779 396 .9311944 397 .813535 398 .6787218 399 .5749106 400 .4708763 401 .3936222 402 .353235 403 .2819316 404 .227979 405 .1894136 406 .1575824 407 .1365875 408 .1215111 409 .09294737 410 .05705263 411 .05561875 412 .02183684 413 .03450555 414 .02034546 415 .01578947 416 .02725556 417 .02190455 418 .01678947 419 .01883913 420 .01855294 421 .02279048 422 .008133331 423 -.0002049997 424 .01002727 425 .01478421 426 .01619545 427 .01251875 428 .007822729 429 .003061112 430 -.001661111 431 -.01918421 432 -.009955553 433 -.006045454 434 .004817647 435 -.01391 436 .02289474 437 .001668422 438 .005704763 439 .0243 440 .007142859 441 .0124579 442 .01409474 443 .02545909 444 .02545 445 .02414091 446 .02182222 447 .02314211 448 .02516316 449 .02146842 450 .01675455 451 .005155556 452 .03114583 453 .02276 454 .02111429 455 .01908095 456 .01917222 457 .01130455 458 .03083158 459 .02086364 460 .0162875 461 .003188891 462 -.016895 463 -.0145 464 -.02501429 465 -.003268751 466 -.01072222 467 .006831251 468 -.003268749 469 .01768125 470 .005835293 471 .002605555 472 -.003077777 473 -.0229875 474 -.01313334 475 -.02637059 476 -.01649474 477 -.01165263 478 -.01288824 479 -.00817143 480 -.02448823 481 -.005200001 482 -.001938095 483 -.01254706 484 -.01249 485 -.002700001 486 -.001952941 487 .002584211 488 .005192857 489 .01234211 490 .003080001 491 .02242632 492 -.002294118 493 .005562501 494 -.003905001 495 -.003057895 496 .008514999 497 -.011525 498 .006972222 499 -.003265 500 .0032125 501 -.007091305 502 -.01293333 503 .001245 504 -.03503 505 -.01516316 506 -.01100952 507 -.00656 508 -.01573684 509 -.03592353 510 -.006055 511 -.01805263 512 -.023345 513 -.02263158 514 -.01095294 515 -.004879999 516 -.015605 517 -.006605263 518 -.01162 519 -.01087778 520 .01585 521 .004131818 522 .004738889 523 .01081111 524 .02343158 525 .02736471 526 .01518947 527 .01403889 528 .003963636 529 .005370589 530 -.003555555 531 -.00189524 532 -.005062499 533 -.001771428 534 -.01431875 535 .005752941 536 -.01627 537 -.02244375 538 -.008924998 539 -.01459444 540 -.01273125 541 -.02593182 542 -.04132941 543 -.03018572 544 -.05404445 545 -.03976667 546 -.03899474 547 -.058005 548 -.05065834 549 -.06718571 550 -.05413044 551 -.07406112 552 -.05571053 553 -.06927391 554 -.07103333 555 -.06315217 556 -.09187895 557 -.05824 558 -.08809524 559 -.06759546 560 -.06679131 561 -.05928421 562 -.04947273 563 -.06017619 564 -.04602 565 -.04190476 566 -.035245 567 -.01974 568 -.02865 569 -.004491304 570 -.011345 571 .02643 572 .037405 573 .052235 574 .080515 575 .116055 576 .1828045 577 .2467177 578 .3553722 579 .4473273 580 .5589236 581 .7040696 582 .8521279 583 1.01805 584 1.212753 585 1.352055 586 1.52641 587 1.733863 588 1.827546 589 1.852437 590 1.799686 591 1.66656 592 1.5327 593 1.385881 594 1.23886 595 1.070779 596 .9311944 597 .813535 598 .6787218 599 .5749106 600 .4708763  From jop at astro.columbia.edu Thu May 29 18:45:09 2003 From: jop at astro.columbia.edu (Joe Patterson) Date: Thu, 29 May 2003 18:45:09 -0400 (EDT) Subject: (cba:news) MV Lyr Message-ID: Tonny just got the 2003 campaign kicked off to a rousing start with 4 nights on MV Lyrae, despite the seasonal blues of lengthy twilight in Belgium. Time for the norteamericanos and Uzbekis to jump in and be heard! joe