(cba:news) V1674 Herculis: sayonara?

[Joe Patterson]

Hi CBAers,

A hearty thanks to all of you who have been battling airmass to sustain 
the campaign on Nova Her 2021.  Most professional astronomers switched 
allegiance to RS Oph when that venerable star erupted a few weeks 
later... but the Nova Her campaign has been thrilling to me - the most 
exciting nova since V1500 Cyg.  With its pronounced orbital and spin 
signals, this star has taught me lessons about how the nova outburst 
affects the mass-transfer process.

But the time baseline of data is now 125 days, and the star is getting 
LOW in the west.  Except to check for surprises, it's  probably time to 
switch allegiance.  Here's a good shopping list for Oct-Nov 2021: V1500 
Cyg, CC Scl, V598 Peg, QR And, ES Cet, V902 Mon, T Aur.  And V Per.  As 
usual, it pays to concentrate on a particular star, as long as airmass 
and telescope aperture permit.  The long-run-every-night observing style 
tends to bring rewards unattainable in other ways.  (And speaking of 
that, special thanks to David Cejudo and Richard Sabo for their fidelity 
to V1500 Cyg and V1974 Cyg this year.)

Also BT Mon, the deep-eclipsing nova of 1939.  This one is a special 
case, since P_orb is so close to 8.00 hours that your nights can be 
highly redundant.  Some communication of early-season eclipse times 
would be good.

In general, the detailed shape of the ORBITAL light curve of old novae 
is a subject I plan to focus on this year.  I've certainly left off a 
few that could be interesting - and there's likely some interesting 
physics in that subject.

joe p
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