(cba:news) ld317, exit left

[Joe Patterson]

Dear CBAers,

I'm about halfway through the analysis of this year's LD317 data.  The
campaign looks promising, but the runs are getting a bit shorter now...
and I reckon it's time to put our efforts elsewhere.  Let's take advantage
of the dark skies now to squeeze out some data on ES Cet (0206-09) and
"And" (HS2331+39)!  These stars are 16.5-17, but of great astrophysical
interest since they represent very late stages of binary evolution.  Both
should be evolving under the control of gravitational radiation, and
tracking their period changes is one of the best - perhaps the best - ways
to constrain the effect of GR.

In the south, BW Scl is of equal interest, amd for the same reason.  And
comparably faint.

When Olde Whiteface rolls back into the sky in 7-8 days, we'll probably
launch the major mid-November campaign on TT Ari - which some observers
have jumped on already.

A few southerners may have tried to measure EX Hya - now in outburst.
This is awfully interesting, but the sky position is so horrible that I'm
reluctant to recommend it.  Maybe with a deep red filter and a pile of
fortitude...?

BTW I've decided to call a general CBA meeting at the next Big Bear
photometry conference (Society of Astronomical Sciences, nee IAPPP).  This
is in late May in southern California.  We've done several of these
before, at AAS and ASP meetings... and it's time to do another.  Nice
venue too... I used to run my summer camps there in the 1970s, in fact at
the identical site later (and now) used by the Riverside ATM conference.
I probably will have some observing time lined up on Kitt Peak (near
Tucson AZ) right around then too, so we can perhaps pack in some actual
science too, and some observatory tourism.  More later!

joe