(cba:news) V1674 Her, IM Nor, V407 Lupi (Joe Patterson) [2022-04-01T03:42:24Z]

Hi CBAers,

Now that the Moon has moved into the evening sky, Hercules is much more 
favorable for observation.  I'm hoping to get a good solid month-long 
2022 observation of V1674 Her (Nova Her 2021) - to complement the superb 
coverage of 2021.  It should be straightforward, because the star is 
still decently bright (17), and the 8-minute pulse is strong (0.05 mag). 
 The timing data so far, to my shock, suggests that the spin clock is 
continuing to speed up violently - even now, long after the eruption.  I 
had predicted that it would slowly asymptote back to the pre-nova spin 
value.  Strangely, no one took my bet.

Anyway, the star is now MUCH more favorable for observation, and you can 
get decently long runs as Hercules slowly climbs higher in the morning 
sky.  So far, the ORBITAL signal has not re-emerged - probably because 
it was too early in the season to get long runs.  But it should be OK 
now.  I'm grateful for your efforts so far, and I hope you'll continue 
on this wonderful star.

I think V407 Lup is a similar star, and I hope southerners can cover 
that star with a similar campaign.

Two other comrades, T Pyx and IM Nor.  The 2022 T Pyx campaign can end; 
the ephemeris is nailed down - and continues to show gradual flattening 
of the period curve as the star gets fainter.  It's now as faint as mag 
16 - fainter than it has ever been in history... and the fading is 
continuous (happening for decades - except for eruptions of course).  Re 
its comrade, IM Nor, no 2022 observations yet... but I'm eager to see if 
the fast Porb increase continues!

In 6 weeks, I will finally transition from "professor" to "research 
scientist" (cease teaching classes).  This will give me much more time 
to do the analysis of all the wonderful data you guys send me!

The V1674 Her paper is just about ready to go, and mainly just waits for 
a few weeks of 2922 coverage.

joe
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