(cba:news) XMM1151-62 ans HS1813+61, mostly (Joe Patterson) [2010-08-06T22:07:09Z]

Dear CBAers,

Success on XMM1151. Despite the awkwardness of (western!) Centaurus in 
August, we did manage to extract the orbital period of this odd (or 
maybe odd) new CV.  Chris Stockdale jumped on it right away, and along 
with Berto, Greg, and Si Lowther (a new observer from NZ; the usual NZ 
stalwarts must have been skiing), the longitude spread was good enough. 
 I think ATel 2777 is about to come out:

http://www.astronomerstelegram.org/?read=2777

This should be a major target next year.

It's time to ring down the curtain on HS1813+61.  The star is about 1 
magnitude fainter than in our previous campaign... and this has greatly 
reduced the superhump signal (which is quite hard to track).  As a 
consolation prize, we get the orbital signal - which is nice, and not 
previously seen in photometry, though previously known from radial 
velocities.  Anyway, it's time to move on to other - and generally 
easterly - stars.

In the north, I strongly recommend WZ Sge and GD 552 = Cep 1, both 
hugely important stars (in our understanding of CV evolution), yet 
strangely unmolested by CBA campaigns.  The previous list of DQ Hers 
applies too.  I'll send out a full letter tomorrow morning.

joe