From jop at astro.columbia.edu  Tue Jun  1 10:48:05 2004
From: jop at astro.columbia.edu (Joe Patterson)
Date: Tue, 1 Jun 2004 10:48:05 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: (cba:news) V551 Sgr mainly
Message-ID: <Pine.GSO.4.33.0406011041570.23627-100000@fidelio.phys.columbia.edu>


Dear CBAers,

Fuller letter in a day or so.  However, it's time to shift southern
attention to V551 Sgr, which Berto has found alive and superhumping.
Nicely placed, fire away!  The V2400 Oph campaign has been GREAT, and I'll
write about it... but it can end now.

In the north, RX1643+34 is the best object for battling Olde Whiteface
over the next week.  Plus the freshly erupted LL And, if you can actually
slip in an hour or so near dawn.  Both plenty bright.

joe



From jop at astro.columbia.edu  Wed Jun  2 17:52:26 2004
From: jop at astro.columbia.edu (Joe Patterson)
Date: Wed, 2 Jun 2004 17:52:26 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: (cba:news) v380 oph
Message-ID: <Pine.GSO.4.33.0406021748270.25165-100000@fidelio.phys.columbia.edu>


Following up on Berto's message:

Yes, it seems that V551 Sgr's days in the sky might be numbered.  I do
think that 2258-09 would be a good target, despite poor sky placement - if
it's truly that bright. Give a peek.

Also, we could really use some dense (multi-longitude) coverage of V380
Oph.  I know some of you Southerners don't like those northern decs... but
honest, we borealites can't figger this one out.  Can you help?

joe



From jop at astro.columbia.edu  Mon Jun  7 00:04:33 2004
From: jop at astro.columbia.edu (Joe Patterson)
Date: Mon, 7 Jun 2004 00:04:33 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: (cba:news) stars for June
Message-ID: <Pine.GSO.4.33.0406062338300.29925-100000@fidelio.phys.columbia.edu>


Dear CBAers,

Time for a more complete update on our campaigns.

We're not quite working any dwarf novae right now.  Several are in
superoutburst, but for various reasons they're not that suitable.  We've
had extremely good coverage of TT Boo and TV Crv in past eruptions -
better than anything we're likely to accomplish now.  And LL And is really
poorly placed; we're getting some coverage from MDM Observatory and
sending to Tonny, but the runs are so short now that this'll be good
mainly just for a period measure.

V380 Oph continues to be a puzzler.  A very, very strange power spectrum.
I dunno if we can figure it out, but our best hope is certainly to stitch
together light curves from many longitudes.  Now that the Moon is (more or
less) out of the way, let the good time series roll!

It's definitely a good time for southerners to peek back in on V803 Cen.
It's been about 75 d since the last superoutburst, and we'd love to catch
it in the early stages of the NEXT superoutburst (the mean interval is
about 80 d).  Later in the night, the good targets are V380 Oph, or two
recent novae: V4743 Sgr and V1494 Aql.  Both of the latter are likely to
be good buddies for the rest of the month.

By the way, if you can handle 17th magnitude, a great southern target is
IM Nor.  We've been tracking its orbital modulation for several years, and
it appears to show a quite interesting period change - which another
season's coverage is needed to confirm.

In the north, it's still V380 Oph and RX1643+34 ("Her") - and perhaps
V1494 Aql.

joe



From jop at astro.columbia.edu  Wed Jun  9 21:35:03 2004
From: jop at astro.columbia.edu (Joe Patterson)
Date: Wed, 9 Jun 2004 21:35:03 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: (cba:news) MDM tonight (fwd)
Message-ID: <Pine.GSO.4.33.0406092132070.755-100000@fidelio.phys.columbia.edu>


Dear CBAers,

This would be an interesting event to follow in photometry.  An I filter
would be ideal, but unfiltered is OK if you don't have the filters.  It's
likely to be a quite crowded field - I didn't say it would be easy!

joe



Date: Wed, 9 Jun 2004 09:23:59 -0400 (EDT)
From: Andy Gould <gould at astronomy.ohio-state.edu>
To: suvi at astro.columbia.edu
Subject: Extreme Microlensing Event

Dear Suvi,

        Tonight, there is a very rare microlensing: an
extremely high magnification event of an intrinsically
bright star.  I expect that it will be I=11 over MDM
tonight.  This presents a rare chance to get a spectrum
of a bulge star when it is highly magnified.  Also,
if the event undergoes a caustic crossing, spectra
can effectively spatially resolve the source.  If you
are interested in getting a spectrum of this source,
please let me know.  The source is called OGLE-2004-BLG-254.
Its J2000 coordinates are:

17:56:36.20  -32:33:01.8


- andy gould


From jop at astro.columbia.edu  Tue Jun 15 22:51:41 2004
From: jop at astro.columbia.edu (Joe Patterson)
Date: Tue, 15 Jun 2004 22:51:41 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: (cba:news) stars for mid-June
Message-ID: <Pine.GSO.4.33.0406152223001.5169-100000@fidelio.phys.columbia.edu>


Dear CBAers,

Time for major changes in CBA targets.

V380 Oph coverage should be called off.  The observations have been great,
and show that there is some kind of negative superhump present. But that's
well established by the data so far - and because the superhump is not
very stable, increased coverage doesn't significantly improve the science.
So time to move on.

V803 Cen DID, as reported before, rise from its quiescent magnitude around
16.5.  But it didn't get quite to its full level of 12.9, and failed to
grow new superhumps.  That may be only a few days away, though.  So we
should keep an eye on it, and cover it intensively if it rises to full
outburst.

For northern observers, I recommend two new stars in Hercules: V849 Her
and V825 Her.  Fairly obscure CVs, probably novalikes, candidate for
orbital or superhump periodicity - and bright enough for CBAers, at least
normally.  Plus one other star, V1494 Aql - that very bright nova that
went off in December 1999.

For southern observers, I recommend novae in Sagittarius.  I am not
exactly sure of the best choices, and some of you might want to pipe up
here since I know some of you keep close watch on these things.  Anyway,
here they are: V4633 Sgr, V4745 Sgr, V4743 Sgr, and V4744 Sgr.  The first
and the third have roughly known periods (about 3 and 7 hours), and
corresponding periodic signals.  Both are likely to be rewarding targets.
The other two are pretty much terra incognita.  The other nova, good for
south and north and any other hemisphere you might know about, is V1494
Aql.

That's it. Pretty much a clean slate.  I expect to do a much better job
getting all these studies into print now, as classes have ended and I have
a year's sabbatical stretching in front of me!

Happy observing!

joe



From jop at astro.columbia.edu  Thu Jun 17 06:18:35 2004
From: jop at astro.columbia.edu (Joe Patterson)
Date: Thu, 17 Jun 2004 06:18:35 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: (cba:news) hercules exchange
Message-ID: <Pine.GSO.4.33.0406170611160.6538-100000@fidelio.phys.columbia.edu>


Oops.  Yes, I think V849 Her should be taken off our list.  It gave a flat
light curve for Tom Krajci last night, and in one run I obtained a few
years ago.  Plus no emission lines.

But I inadvertently omitted RX1643+34 ("Her") from the list.  We're by no
means done with that one!

So just trade one star in Hercules for another.

joe



From jop at astro.columbia.edu  Thu Jun 24 21:50:13 2004
From: jop at astro.columbia.edu (Joe Patterson)
Date: Thu, 24 Jun 2004 21:50:13 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: (cba:news) Var Her 04
Message-ID: <Pine.GSO.4.33.0406242146400.11544-100000@fidelio.phys.columbia.edu>


...Just wanted to add my voice to the endorsement of this newly discovered
dwarf nova as an excellent target for time-series photometry!  Possibly
superseding the others, as long as it stays bright.

joe



From jop at astro.columbia.edu  Sat Jun 26 10:00:51 2004
From: jop at astro.columbia.edu (Joe Patterson)
Date: Sat, 26 Jun 2004 10:00:51 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: (cba:news) "Var Her 04"
Message-ID: <Pine.GSO.4.33.0406260947540.13096-100000@fidelio.phys.columbia.edu>


Dear CBAers,

Just a follow-up on this fascinating new star in Hercules. So far I've
seen data from Tonny, Lew Cook, and Russ Durkee.  Looks like a really fun
star - with strong humps (presumably "super") and other structures in the
light curve that are stable or nearly so.  At 1839+26, it is rather
ideally placed for northern observers.  But I'm hoping I can persuade some
southerners to take a few-hour crack at it also.  We're a little
understaffed these days, due to the white nights of northern Europe, the
width of the Pacific, and Major Tom's relocation from Uzbekistan.  Any
coverage you can provide on this star will have a strong impact!

I imagine this is a new WZ Sge star, although secure knowledge on this
point may have to wait for quiescence.  But any hitherto unknown dwarf
nova erupting to 11th mag, now that's big news in any event.  Fire away
with all available weaponry!

joe

RA  18 39 26.16
DEC 26 04 10        (2000.0)  chart at http://brucegary.net/nova2004/