From jop at astro.columbia.edu  Thu Mar  4 18:41:02 2010
From: jop at astro.columbia.edu (Joe Patterson)
Date: Thu, 04 Mar 2010 18:41:02 -0500
Subject: (cba:news) March stars
Message-ID: <E1NnKf8-0006kc-AK@pluto.astro.columbia.edu>



Dear CBAers,

  What a great campaign you're all doing on U Sco!  I'm not part of the fun
myself (we just forward the data to Brad, who analyzes it more expertly
and quickly than I could).  But I've certainly adnired the result.  I
didn't think it possible for Scorpius in February.

  I wonder if I could draw your attention somewhat away from U Sco 
(and since it's fading fast, maybe this is timely).  There's a spate of
DQ Her stars (intermediate polars) in the March evening sky, and we're
trying to track the periods of their rapid optical pulses.  Ideally one
wants pulse timings early and late in the observing season, to give a
baseline sufficiently long to count cycles from year to year.  (You don't
have to do this every year, but you definitely need it occasionally - since
the period changes.)  We got a decent collection of pulse timings a few
months ago; let's reprise 'em now!

Here's the collection of stars:

RX0704+26 = Gem (paper ready to go on this one - just need 2-3 March timings)
RX0636+35 = Aur
V405 Aur
PQ Gem (V filter - not clear)
MU Cam
Swift 0732-13



As for stars in the current program, Little Swifty is a dud (or perhaps is
just too faint for us).  Off with his head.  I'll finish with the Big
Swifty analysis in another day or two.  (Doesn't look good, though.)

It's DEFINITELY time to start up the AM CVn program!  A prime object in
the March and April sky.  The light curve is no crowd-pleaser... if you
can see the variability in the raw light curve, your data's pretty good.
But in that ever-so-modest light curve lurks some fascinating periodic
signals - in particular the orbital period, whose long-term change may
signify the rate of gravitational-wave radiation.

The other CV we'd like to wrap up is UMa 6 - a strange 10-hour eclipsing
binary that's been hanging around unpublished for about a thousand years
(hence its failure to get a decent variable-star name; the Russians don't
assign a name until an official publication comes out).

Now for a dwarf nova which has intrigued me.  I'm likely too slow on
the draw here - it was bright a couple of weeks ago.  But it's likely
to be quite a fascinating star; can someone look and see if it's bright
enough for time series?  It's CSS 100217:104411+211307.

     Finally, can you guys let me, and Jerry Foote, know if you're
planning to attend the SAS (Big Bear, CA) meeting in May?  The SAS
meeting is big enough that they need plenty of advance notice to
schedule the talks... and you'll also want to reserve soon to guarantee
housing.  Thanks!

joe


From jop at astro.columbia.edu  Fri Mar  5 03:18:08 2010
From: jop at astro.columbia.edu (Joe Patterson)
Date: Fri, 05 Mar 2010 03:18:08 -0500
Subject: (cba:news) [Fwd:  CSS 100217:104411+211307 Magnitude]
Message-ID: <4B90BE40.3060202@astro.columbia.edu>

Dear CBAers,

Gordon Myers just sent me this.  That's a go signal.  This is likely to 
be still superhumping... and if so, will prove to be a really great 
star.  If the humps are gone, then cancel that alert - but I bet they're 
there!

joe



-------- Original Message --------
Subject: (cba:news) CSS 100217:104411+211307 Magnitude
Date: Thu, 4 Mar 2010 19:42:33 -0800
From: Gordon Myers <gordonmyers at hotmail.com>
Reply-To: cba-chat at cbastro.org
To: <cba-chat at cbastro.org>, <cba-news at cbastro.org>
References: <E1NnKf8-0006kc-AK at pluto.astro.columbia.edu>

Joe,

Using a clear filter with V mag for reference, I measured CSS 100217 at
magnitude 14.4 on March 5 at 02:58UT.

Gordon





From jop at astro.columbia.edu  Sun Mar 14 04:27:54 2010
From: jop at astro.columbia.edu (Joe Patterson)
Date: Sun, 14 Mar 2010 04:27:54 -0400
Subject: (cba:news) SAS meeting at Big Bear
Message-ID: <E1NqjAw-0003cx-Fj@pluto.astro.columbia.edu>


Dear CBAers,

   I hope some of you will be giving papers/presentations at the Big Bear
SAS meeting.  Whether you know it or not, if you submit data to the CBA,
you've overcome hurdles which the great majority of CCD amateur astronomers
are stopped by.  Judging from the number of queries I get, and the number of
people who actually submit data, I know this for sure!  Even if you
don't have "scientific" results to present, consider giving a talk along
the lines of "here's my rig and here's my path from the telescope to the
time series".

   This is just the kind of talk the audience needs to hear.  Most audience
members have the equipment, but need to hear talks which will make them
react, "hey, I think I could probably do that".  Those talks would do
more to move our enterprise along than the more traditional science/data
analysis fare.  I hope some of you decide to give 'em!

   And one more thing - short is good!  There are good long talks and good
short ones, but generally audiences like the short ones better.  Consider
the Gettysburg Address.

   The deadline for submitting abstracts for talks is nigh - today, I think
(from memory).  I imagine a few days late is OK, though.  Anyway, CBA talks
would raise our profile, likely be impactful on the audience, and quite
possibly help us focus better on what directions we might want to move our
enterprise (collaborative small-scope photometry research) in the future. 


    joe