(cba:news) Fwd: AM Cvn-type star in outburst

[Joe Patterson]

More of a chat item, but I just wanted to give it a wider scope.

New outbursting AM CVn stars only come along every 5-10 years, and this 
appears to be one.  Plus it's transiting around midnight, and is not 
outrageously faint.  Wow.  Helena and her gang will probably run on this 
star around 1130-330 PDT = 1830-2230 UT from Kitt Peak (they'll start 
the night with CR Boo, now madly superhumping - it's a hot night for the 
heliums).  It would be great if some USA observers could cover this 
helium star in Hercules at other times... and if everyone (Bob and Greg, 
is the sky clear out in Oceania?) could nail CR Boo during these 
critical nights.

Then there's V1974 Cygni, which doesn't sink in my esteem just cuz the 
others rose.

It sounds greedy, but I've been restrained in recent weeks!

joe

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: AM Cvn-type star in outburst
Date: Sat, 9 Jun 2012 03:32:26 +0200
From: Enrique de Miguel <edmiguel63 at gmail.com>
To: Joe Patterson <jop at astro.columbia.edu>

Joe,

  Not sure if you are aware of the vsnet-alert message send few hours
ago regarding the outburst detected by Catalina
on the AM CVn candidate SDSS J172102.48+273301.2. I guess that
whatever anomalous happens to AM CVn stars it's
worth having a look. I've stopped coverage on V1974 Cyg and chase that
target for the rest of the night. It must be
~16.5 mag. It's showing ~0.15-0.18 mag modulations with a period of
about 40-45 min (just visual inspection), probably
being of orbital nature.


Enrique

PS
Mount problem not solved yet ......