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(cba:news) HU Aquarii, a new campaign target (Joe Patterson) [2018-08-08T11:12:32Z]


Hi CBAers,

We're likely to have a hard X-ray (NUSTAR) observation of this star on August 17, and may have some Swift coverage before then also. Now's a good time to start time -series observations. The star is around 16.0, with very deep eclipses. Hence probably an unfiltered target for most of us. Someone, though, should try V (Gordon?), since these AM Her stars have very weird colors. Meaning: inferring V from "unfiltered" magnitudes is pretty uncertain. In fact, come to think of it, everyone should consider taking some time to establish that relationship for their system.*

In Aquarius, thus an equal-opportunity target, plus transiting around midnight. Let's get the program going in the next few nights - it'll also give us good baseline, plus some fallback insurance if August 17 weather goes bad.

Recent interest in this star has been spurred by the relatively large variations in mid-eclipse timing - you know, planets, etc. So I guess that's another reason to observe this guy. But even if the planetary hypothesis goes pfffft (most do), there's still some pretty big wiggles in O-C, to be explained by some other astrophysical tool. Maybe something related to the physics of CVs? Hey, just a suggestion!

But... don't forget Maxie either... or VW Hyi (campaign still going for another ~2 days)!

joe p

*Don't go crazy with this, though. It's just to get some idea. Since comparison stars don't have "unfiltered" magnitudes, it's in principle impossible!

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