From jop at astro.columbia.edu  Fri Apr  2 11:12:06 2010
From: jop at astro.columbia.edu (Joe Patterson)
Date: Fri, 02 Apr 2010 10:12:06 -0500
Subject: (cba:news) New from AIP4Win... and some stars too
Message-ID: <4BB60946.9030504@astro.columbia.edu>

Dear CBAers,

I think about half of you are using Richard Berry's AIP4Win software. 
It's probably the quickest way to go from unwrapping the camera to 
scientifically useful data... so some of you might want to look at it.
It comes with their fine book "Astronomical Image Processing"... and I'm 
sure is available free-standing too.  Anyway, he has a "CBA data format" 
option in the software, which makes ol' spreadsheet-phobic me happy - 
and now includes airmass as well, which will make it possible to remove 
differential extinction to first order.  That will give us access to an 
awkward period regime - from 0.3 to 2.0 days.

Here's his message. BTW some of you might want to attend the NEAIC/NEAF 
meeting in 2 weeks.  I'll be there Sunday, though not Saturday.  The 
talks are OK but nothing great... but the vendor booths, now they're 
just wonderful!  Better than Riverside, Stellafane, ASP, SAS, or 
anything I've ever seen.  It's like the astronomer's version of the Las 
Vegas consumer electronics show, ot the Tucson gem show.

All your coverage of MU Cam and BG CMi have cinched the cycle count; 
these stars can be retired for the season.  The only remaining guy on 
that particular menu is WX Pyx, which can use 2-3 more runs.  Then I'd 
like to commend some HARD (faint) targets:

OT 1112-35 (11 12 17.4 -35 38 28.8 2000.0)
SDSS 1238-03 ("Vir" in Downes cat)
SDSS 0813+28
SDSS 0804+51
SDSS 0751+14

These are high-risk (cuz they're faint), high-reward stars.  Some may be 
around 19th mag or even 20.  If the time overhead for acquiring a 
snapshot magnitude is not too much, snapshot magnitudes are plenty 
valuable.  And if you don't feel too strange in acquiring a time series 
on a star you can barely detect, that would be great too.

More on the brighter stars later today.  AM CVn remains a very, very 
good target - and of happy day, transiting near local midnight.  In the 
south, it's time to start up again on EX Hya (easy target), and to get 
acquainted with LY Hya (hard target),

joe


-------- Original Message --------
Subject: 	Re: AIP4WIN's CBA Report format...
Date: 	Thu, 01 Apr 2010 19:59:39 -0700
From: 	Richard Berry <rberry at wvi.com>
To: 	Joe Patterson <jop at astro.columbia.edu>
CC: 	Tom Krajci <tom_krajci at tularosa.net>, Russ Garrett
<russ at russgarrett.com>




Hi Joe /et al./--

The most recent AIP4Win (beta) includes the airmass and additional
material in the header. The next release (i.e., the working draft I have
on my computer) has coordinates for V, C1, and C2 in the header.

I'll be speaking at NEAIC/NEAF two weeks from now. The NEAIC theme this
year -- by popular demand -- is "doing science with CCD cameras." Even
though most people are still doing pretty pictures, there's a growing
number who want to do something more substantial.

--Richard


Joe Patterson wrote:
> Hi Richard et al.,
>
> Yes, that's great.  Tom's comment says it all: the airmass is 
> definitely useful - occasionally for the science, and *always* as a 
> monitor for when the observer's pushing things too far, falls asleep, 
> etc.  A little header information is good too - comp star coordinates, 
> maybe USNO number, nominal V, etc.
>
> Richard, thanks so much for doing this!  It'll really streamline the 
> path for new observers.
>
> Russ, sorry for my sluggishness. A stream of visits from 
> in-laws/relatives.  One of the several penalties for living in NYC. 
> I've exhausted my annual quota of museums and restaurants.  Just 1.5 
> more days, hallelujah.
>
> joe
>
>
> Tom Krajci wrote:
>> Hi Richard,
>>
>> I like having the air mass option for CBA reports.  For some projects 
>> Joe needs better data calibration to tease out faint periodic 
>> signals, especially in the frequency regime of 2 - 5 cycles/day.  Air 
>> mass info helps improve the calibration.  (I'm also looking forward 
>> to seeing air mass info with Russ' photometry because he's using a 
>> blue-block filter that helps reduce the effect of differential 
>> extinction that can be a real problem in long time-series work.  This 
>> may be a useful 'middle ground' between unfiltered and a typical 
>> photometric bandpass of about 300nm.)
>>
>> Anyway, it's easier to delete air mass info if you include it...than 
>> try and add it later.
>>
>> One final thought - would it be possible to include in the 
>> output/header some info on the comp stars?..mostly the name/coords.  
>> That can help when combining data sets from different 
>> observers...it's just good record keeping.
>>
>> Tom



From jop at astro.columbia.edu  Fri Apr  2 19:27:36 2010
From: jop at astro.columbia.edu (Joe Patterson)
Date: Fri, 02 Apr 2010 19:27:36 -0400
Subject: (cba:news) SDSS J105550.08+095620.4]
Message-ID: <4BB67D68.3000507@astro.columbia.edu>

This looks like a pretty good one.  Not if it's a normal outburst (no 
humps) - but most of these detections turn out to be supers.

joe

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: 	[cvnet-outburst] SDSS J105550.08+095620.4
Date: 	Fri, 2 Apr 2010 21:21:59 +0000
From: 	Jeremy Shears <bunburyobservatory at hotmail.com>
Reply-To: 	cvnet-outburst at yahoogroups.com
To: 	<cvnet-outburst at yahoogroups.com>, <baavss-alert at yahoogroups.com>






SDSS J105550.08+095620.4 Apr 2.877 15.4C

SDSS has g=19.2; CRTS range 14.1 - 18.9 CV (CRTS: A.J. Drake et al.
2009, ApJ 696, 870)

Timeseries started

Jeremy Shears

Cheshire, UK


__________________________________________________________
Do you have a story that started on Hotmail? Tell us now
http://clk.atdmt.com/UKM/go/195013117/direct/01/
<http://clk.atdmt.com/UKM/go/195013117/direct/01/>

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

__._,_.___
Reply to sender <mailto:bunburyobservatory at hotmail.com?subject=SDSS
J105550.08+095620.4> | Reply to group
<mailto:cvnet-outburst at yahoogroups.com?subject=SDSS J105550.08+095620.4>
| Reply via web post
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/cvnet-outburst/post;_ylc=X3oDMTJxcDIyZnBjBF9TAzk3MzU5NzE0BGdycElkAzE0MTg0NzM2BGdycHNwSWQDMTcwNTA4Mjg0NQRtc2dJZAMzNjU1BHNlYwNmdHIEc2xrA3JwbHkEc3RpbWUDMTI3MDI0MzM0Nw--?act=reply&messageNum=3655> 

| Start a New Topic
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/cvnet-outburst/post;_ylc=X3oDMTJmcGkwdmhzBF9TAzk3MzU5NzE0BGdycElkAzE0MTg0NzM2BGdycHNwSWQDMTcwNTA4Mjg0NQRzZWMDZnRyBHNsawNudHBjBHN0aW1lAzEyNzAyNDMzNDc-> 


Messages in this topic
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/cvnet-outburst/message/3655;_ylc=X3oDMTM1bWJtNXNuBF9TAzk3MzU5NzE0BGdycElkAzE0MTg0NzM2BGdycHNwSWQDMTcwNTA4Mjg0NQRtc2dJZAMzNjU1BHNlYwNmdHIEc2xrA3Z0cGMEc3RpbWUDMTI3MDI0MzM0NwR0cGNJZAMzNjU1> 

(1)
Recent Activity:

     * New Members
 
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/cvnet-outburst/members;_ylc=X3oDMTJnbTU4bzRkBF9TAzk3MzU5NzE0BGdycElkAzE0MTg0NzM2BGdycHNwSWQDMTcwNTA4Mjg0NQRzZWMDdnRsBHNsawN2bWJycwRzdGltZQMxMjcwMjQzMzQ2?o=6>
       1

Visit Your Group
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/cvnet-outburst;_ylc=X3oDMTJmcDZrbDgyBF9TAzk3MzU5NzE0BGdycElkAzE0MTg0NzM2BGdycHNwSWQDMTcwNTA4Mjg0NQRzZWMDdnRsBHNsawN2Z2hwBHN0aW1lAzEyNzAyNDMzNDY-> 


Visit us on the web at http://cvnet.aavso.org
MARKETPLACE

Do More for Dogs Group. Connect with other dog owners who do more.
<http://us.ard.yahoo.com/SIG=15oha23et/M=493064.13983314.13965207.13298430/D=groups/S=1705082845:MKP1/Y=YAHOO/EXP=1270250547/L=d697c60e-3e9d-11df-a82e-afb66020e2ba/B=opeEDGKImjw-/J=1270243347555967/K=_QYjbHuyT9EJY2QMefEHDQ/A=6046497/R=0/SIG=11jls91tg/*http://advision.webevents.yahoo.com/domorefordogs>

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Welcome to Mom Connection! Share stories, news and more with moms like
you.
<http://us.ard.yahoo.com/SIG=15o65l31q/M=493064.13814537.13965224.10835568/D=groups/S=1705082845:MKP1/Y=YAHOO/EXP=1270250547/L=d697c60e-3e9d-11df-a82e-afb66020e2ba/B=o5eEDGKImjw-/J=1270243347555967/K=_QYjbHuyT9EJY2QMefEHDQ/A=6042764/R=0/SIG=11jbo19n3/*http://advision.webevents.yahoo.com/momconnection>

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hobbies & Activities Zone: Find others who share your passions! Explore
new interests.
<http://us.ard.yahoo.com/SIG=15ojp9cqs/M=493064.14012770.13963757.13298430/D=groups/S=1705082845:MKP1/Y=YAHOO/EXP=1270250547/L=d697c60e-3e9d-11df-a82e-afb66020e2ba/B=pJeEDGKImjw-/J=1270243347555967/K=_QYjbHuyT9EJY2QMefEHDQ/A=6015306/R=0/SIG=11vlkvigg/*http://advision.webevents.yahoo.com/hobbiesandactivitieszone/>

Yahoo! Groups
<http://groups.yahoo.com/;_ylc=X3oDMTJlbWwxOG5xBF9TAzk3MzU5NzE0BGdycElkAzE0MTg0NzM2BGdycHNwSWQDMTcwNTA4Mjg0NQRzZWMDZnRyBHNsawNnZnAEc3RpbWUDMTI3MDI0MzM0Nw--> 


Switch to: Text-Only
<mailto:cvnet-outburst-traditional at yahoogroups.com?subject=Change
Delivery Format: Traditional>, Daily Digest
<mailto:cvnet-outburst-digest at yahoogroups.com?subject=Email Delivery:
Digest> ? Unsubscribe
<mailto:cvnet-outburst-unsubscribe at yahoogroups.com?subject=Unsubscribe>
? Terms of Use <http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/>
.

__,_._,___


From jop at astro.columbia.edu  Sun Apr  4 04:42:41 2010
From: jop at astro.columbia.edu (Joe Patterson)
Date: Sun, 04 Apr 2010 04:42:41 -0400
Subject: (cba:news) V1032 Oph, fire away!
Message-ID: <4BB85101.5030608@astro.columbia.edu>

Dear CBAers,

A new eclipsing superhumper in outburst - outstanding!  Definitely the 
object for urgent morning attention this week.  Make the time series as 
long as possible, and follow the object as long as possible down towards 
quiescence (so white light is fine, as usual).

First one of these in a long time!

joe

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: (cba:data) V1032 Oph (3-4 Apr 2010) (JD 290.638 to 290.731) 
clearly  an eclipsing UGSU
Date: Sun, 4 Apr 2010 08:16:54 +0200
From: Enrique de Miguel Agustino <demiguel at uhu.es>
Reply-To: cba-tech at cbastro.org
To: cba-data at cbastro.org

Hi there,
Confirmation of the UGSU+E nature of this target.
The eclipse I found on March 31 (data sent to
the CBA) did correspond to an orbital eclipse.
Tentative orbital period P_orb = 0.0795(3) though
more data is clearly needed to refine this value.
See comments below.

Regards,
Enrique,
Huelva (Spain)


-------------- next part --------------
An embedded and charset-unspecified text was scrubbed...
Name: Attached Message Part
URL: <http://cbastro.org/pipermail/cba-public/attachments/20100404/94cd72b4/attachment.ksh>

From jop at astro.columbia.edu  Sun Apr  4 04:48:36 2010
From: jop at astro.columbia.edu (Joe Patterson)
Date: Sun, 04 Apr 2010 04:48:36 -0400
Subject: (cba:news) Enrique's note re V1032 Oph
Message-ID: <4BB85264.9090101@astro.columbia.edu>

Dear CBAers,

Here's Enrique's note re this new discovery.  BTW I think he observes 
with a FOUR inch telescope - unless he has upgraded (have you, Enrique?)

I'm a little late with the notification - let's scramble and make up for 
my tardiness!

Beautiful Easter surprise.

joe

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: V1032 Oph seems to be an eclipsing UGSU
Date: Sun, 4 Apr 2010 08:43:29 +0200
From: Enrique de Miguel Agustino <demiguel at uhu.es>
To: Joe Patterson <jop at astro.columbia.edu>

Dear Joe,

Just wanted to call your attention on this target.
This is an UGSU type variable that turns out to
display orbital eclipses. To the best of my knowledge,
the UGSU+E nature of this target had not been
previously noticed. I find P_orb=0.0795(3) d
(using just about 4h data obtained in two runs).
As far as I'm aware, observers contributing to the
vsnet database are following this target.
Maybe there some CBAers who are interested
in keeping an eye on this target.

   With my observing conditions, I'm constraint
to follow this target no more than 2 hours
just before sunrise.

I'm enclosing a plot of the today's run.

Regards,
Enrique de Miguel
Huelva (Spain)


-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: V1032-Oph.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 70406 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://cbastro.org/pipermail/cba-public/attachments/20100404/7ca29197/attachment.jpg>
-------------- next part --------------
An embedded and charset-unspecified text was scrubbed...
Name: Attached Message Part
URL: <http://cbastro.org/pipermail/cba-public/attachments/20100404/7ca29197/attachment.ksh>

From jop at astro.columbia.edu  Mon Apr  5 08:40:05 2010
From: jop at astro.columbia.edu (Joe Patterson)
Date: Mon, 05 Apr 2010 08:40:05 -0400
Subject: (cba:news) AM CVn mostly
Message-ID: <4BB9DA25.5010508@astro.columbia.edu>

Dear CBAers,

Reports from Tut Campbell, George Roberts, and Jeremy Shears indicate 
that SDSS 1055+09 faded fast... which usually means a normal outburst. 
There's some chance it'll trigger a super, so 2-3 more days of snapshots 
would be good.  Unless it jumps back into a super within 3 days, forget 
about it.

Thanks in part to a long season-opening baseball game, I've finished 
analyzing the month's data on AM CVn.  The perpetrators were Bob Koff, 
Tut Campbell/George Roberts, Russ Garrett, Arto Oksanen, Bart Staels, 
and Gordon Myers.  A great team, and a great month of data!  As some of 
you know, we don't particularly track the main superhump (at 525.6 sec) 
nowadays.  It's always present with the same amplitude, and its phase 
wanders on a timescale of weeks - as we've shown in many papers 
stretching over 30 years (although for 22 of them, this was considered 
"controversial").  Now my main interest is tracking the orbital wave, 
which is significantly weaker and therefore requires many long time 
series to specify with the needed precision. That wave occurs at 
1028.7322 s.  It's particularly interesting because AM CVn is a likely 
target for the upcoming gravitational-wave detectors (2 WDs orbiting in 
17.5 minutes, that's a pretty potent radiator of GR).  And also because 
when we see the Porb *change*, it signifies the direction and rate of 
binary evolution - which we'd dearly like to know for these ancient 
binaries!

I have 3 good orbital timings for the month, which is normally a good 
haul for a whole observing season.  However, I noticed that the NODAL 
SUPERHUMP - the 1011 second signal which probably comes from the 
retrograde wobble of the disk - was strong throughout March.  I've never 
seen it so consistently strong.  We've *never* done (nor has anyone else 
of course) a thorough study of that signal - for stability, harmonics, 
and correlations with the wandering of the 525 s signal.  Since we've 
already got a good baseline and the observing season has plenty of life 
left in it, let's KEEP THE CAMPAIGN GOING.  It's particularly a good 
choice for smaller scopes (not suitable for the deep-sea targets) or for 
mediocre nights (since our interest is *periodic signals*, mere loss of 
signal-to-noise is not that important).  But of course, best of all are 
long time series on excellent nights with large telescopes!

This doesn't cancel or modify my earlier target suggestions.  But they 
did run a touch on the *faint* side... and I was delighted to see such 
interesting and new things come once again from our old friend AM CVn!

joe


From jop at astro.columbia.edu  Fri Apr  9 08:02:44 2010
From: jop at astro.columbia.edu (Joe Patterson)
Date: Fri, 09 Apr 2010 08:02:44 -0400
Subject: (cba:news) the dwarf novae strike back...
Message-ID: <4BBF1764.1040807@astro.columbia.edu>

Dear CBAers,

After a sluggish few months, the dwarf novae are rising up to take 
command (for a while) of cataclysmic-variable glamor in the night sky. 
Three unstudied and quite interesting dwarf novae have jumped into 
superoutburat: SDSS0839+28, V1032 Oph, and V591 Cen.  Great pickings!... 
and the dwarf novae, unlike many of the CVs we study, pretty much demand 
attention on their schedule, not on ours.  These stars are all new, and 
at least two are very distinctive (eclipsing, and a good WZ Sge 
candidate).  Whichever suits your horizon/latitude/weather... is likely 
to be a great winner!

joe

Thanks to Enrique de Miguel Agustino for the energy, and uncanny nose, 
to find these new guys!


From jop at astro.columbia.edu  Fri Apr  9 08:07:34 2010
From: jop at astro.columbia.edu (Joe Patterson)
Date: Fri, 09 Apr 2010 08:07:34 -0400
Subject: (cba:news) oops
Message-ID: <4BBF1886.6090502@astro.columbia.edu>

Sorry... for those wishing more formality, that's
SDSS J083931.35+282824.0

Big waves in the light curve, hurrah.

joe


From jop at astro.columbia.edu  Fri Apr  9 08:42:31 2010
From: jop at astro.columbia.edu (Joe Patterson)
Date: Fri, 09 Apr 2010 08:42:31 -0400
Subject: (cba:news) and yet another...
Message-ID: <4BBF20B7.7040805@astro.columbia.edu>

Patrick Woudt writes about another, a new Catalina Sky Survey transient 
in which he found fresh superhumps last night.  The object is
CSS100408:105215-064326.

The code here is year-month-date:RA+dec.  So in more common shorthand, 
it might be called CSS 1052-06 or OT 1052-06.  (The nomenclature for 
these things is kinda fuzzy until the all-wise but famously glacial GCVS 
people get around to assigning an official name.)

The CSS website for transients is a real gold mine.  (Finding charts, 
too.) If you don't already know it, you're in for a treat.

This is a good one too - Patrick threatens to study it in quiescence 
too, which always increases the scientific clout of these supermax light 
curves.

joe