[Date Prev][Date Next][Date Index]

(cba:news) OV Boo's ripping, awesome, groovy, out-of-the-blue outburst (Joe Patterson) [2017-04-28T07:57:22Z]


Best strategy here is to increase exposure time, *gradually* as the star gets fainter. Unfortunately for us small-scopers, the brightness at mid-eclipse does matter quite a bit - because it reveals how much light is down there right at the white dwarf (the WD itself and inner disk). So absence of points at mid-eclipse is a problem.

But time resolution is a somewhat bigger problem. Everything happens fast with this star, so we have to keep integrations short.

The star is still 2 mag above minimum light, and re-brightenings - even second outbursts - are still possible. We must keep going on this unique star (only known Pop II star among the ~1000 known CVs). S/N around 10-15 is just fine. By superposing the various light curves ("crowdsourcing") we're managing to get excellent data from these various runs at S/N~15... and at least delineating the walls of the sharp-walled eclipse.

We also have occasional opportunities for pot-shots with 1-meter telescopes, later in May and June. Mainly through John Thorstensen and Matt Wood. Let's stay good buddies with this star!

I'll present results-to-date at the SAS/AAVSO meeting (Ontario, California) in mid-June, and hope to see a bunch of you there!

joe p

On 4/27/2017 8:01 PM, Shawn Dvorak wrote:
I got fairly good data last night, but it's getting a bit faint for
high(ish) cadence observations. I ran with 45 sec exposures with a clear
filter, and I was missing the lower parts of the eclipse - it's getting
down around 18.5 now. I'll have to increase exposure time, or move on to
other objects until/if a rebrightening occurs.

Shawn

____________________________________________________________
Center for Backyard Astrophysics (CBA) mailing lists
https://cbastro.org/communications/mailing-lists/
____________________________________________________________
Center for Backyard Astrophysics (CBA) mailing lists
https://cbastro.org/communications/mailing-lists/