From jop at astro.columbia.edu  Tue Sep  2 17:46:17 2008
From: jop at astro.columbia.edu (Joe Patterson)
Date: Tue, 02 Sep 2008 17:46:17 -0400
Subject: (cba:news) [new WZ Sge-type DN in And]
Message-ID: <48BDB429.5010905@astro.columbia.edu>


Dear CBAers,

Gracious!  What a great object to spice up the new month and the new 
school year!  I've been very busy with class preparation, and our 
electricity is about to disappear for a day or so.  But I'll send a full 
CBA message when power comes back (tomorrow night)... and meanwhile, 
fire away on this lovely object with all available ammo.  It has a good 
chance of being 2008's best performer... and with the very short period
(77 min) it will give you lots of action each night.  If you observe it 
tonight or tomorrow, send advice about comp star selection.  There's 
some advantage in using the same comp star (though not a huge amount, 
since I always subtract the mean delta mag anyway).  And unfiltered 
light is OK, as always, though there is some advantage in using a V 
filter while the star is adequately bright.

Happy observing!  It's great to see these WZ Sge's jump and say boo.

joe




-------- Original Message --------
Subject: (cba:news) Observation of new WZ Sge-type DN in And
Date: Tue, 2 Sep 2008 04:02:08 +0000 (GMT)
From: Patrick Schmeer <extpasc at yahoo.de>
Reply-To: cba-chat at cbastro.org
To: CBA News <cba-news at cbastro.org>

Visual magnitude estimate by P. Schmeer, Bischmisheim, Germany:
ANDVAR08 20080902.144 126 SPK
Sequence: Tycho and GSC
Instrument: 203-mm SCT

This new WZ Sge-type dwarf nova is located at
R.A. 02h00m25.43s, Decl. +44o10'18.68" (J2000.0)

For more details see [vsnet-alert 10479] and
http://www.astroalert.su/2008/09/01/nova-and

Time-resolved photometry is urgently required.

Regards,
Patrick


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From jop at astro.columbia.edu  Sun Sep  7 22:03:59 2008
From: jop at astro.columbia.edu (Joe Patterson)
Date: Sun, 07 Sep 2008 22:03:59 -0400
Subject: (cba:news) september stars: v466 And, DV Sco, BW Scl
Message-ID: <48C4880F.3080206@astro.columbia.edu>

Dear CBAers,

As most of you know, OT0200+44 has been renamed V466 And... and is 
likely in the midst of a long, bright outburst - the first ever seen in 
this star.  The powerful "common superhumps" have apparently not yet 
appeared, but are probably just a day or two away.  This is a great, 
great target - make every effort to get long time series for the next 
couple of weeks!

This is by far the top priority object - best to spend all night on it.
If horizon problems preclude evening coverage, SDSS2333+15 (Peg) and GD 
552 (Cep1) are good alternatives.

In the southern hemisphere, Berto has been obtaining steady coverage of 
DV Sco (early evening) and BW Scl (rest of night).  These have been 
extremely rewarding - DV Sco is a flashy new superhumper of 
exceptionally long period, and BW Scl is flashing strong orbital and 
pulsation signals.  The latter are the strongest and simplest we have 
ever seen - simple enough that we'll be able to count pulsation cycles 
from night to night, and thus measure periods very accurately.

A simple menu.  Sorry, no bright stars in the first tier.  If you need 
'em, AO Psc and V592 Cas are pretty good choices.

Clear skies!

joe


From jop at astro.columbia.edu  Fri Sep 12 14:27:04 2008
From: jop at astro.columbia.edu (Joe Patterson)
Date: Fri, 12 Sep 2008 14:27:04 -0400
Subject: (cba:news) Likely black-hole transient
Message-ID: <48CAB478.4020009@astro.columbia.edu>


Dear CBAers,

     Here's a flashy new toy in the evening sky:

http://www.astro.columbia.edu/~jules/swiftj1842.5-1124/swiftj1842.5-1124_finding_chart.pdf

(Position and field shown on the chart)

This is an outbursting X-ray source with properties like those of 
black-hole transients, and with a decently bright optical counterpart - 
possibly around 16th mag.  Totally virgin object, though it won't be in 
a few days when the ATel hits the newsstands.  Imagine all those 
beautiful superhumpy light curves falling tragically, and unobserved, on 
humanity's deaf ears and shuttered telescopes!

Get thee to a telescope.  Sorry for the inconvenient sky position.  It 
follows the general rule that things are always discovered *late* in the
observing season.  But if we can patch together runs from ZA and NZ or 
AU, we can still do a decent job - and can solve the alias issues.

Still waiting anxiously for V466 And to bust out in powerful superhumps. 
  When they start, they usually reach maximum amplitude within 1 day. 
So keep a close watch!

joe



From jop at astro.columbia.edu  Thu Sep 18 17:39:06 2008
From: jop at astro.columbia.edu (Joe Patterson)
Date: Thu, 18 Sep 2008 17:39:06 -0400
Subject: (cba:news) test
Message-ID: <48D2CA7A.5030102@astro.columbia.edu>

Some computer woes here... testing to see if they're fixed.

joe