Affiliation
American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO)
Tue, 10/26/2021 - 16:41
AAVSO Alert Notice 758 announces an observing campaign on 11 dwarf novae being observed by HST in 2021-2022. Please see the notice for details and observing instructions.
There are threads for this campaign under the following forums:
- Campaigns and Observing Reports: https://www.aavso.org/hst-campaign-dwarf-novae-2021-2022
- Cataclysmic Variables https://www.aavso.org/hst-campaign-dwarf-novae-2021-2022-01
Please subscribe to these threads if you are participating in the campaign so you can be updated. Join in the discussion or ask questions there!
Many thanks, and Good observing,
Elizabeth O. Waagen, AAVSO HQ
Here is the target list for the dwarf novae in Alert Notice 758. The list will be updated as the specific HST date/time for each target becomes known.
Good observing,
Elizabeth
Targets: November 2021 – September 2022
Charts with comparison stars for the targets may be created using the AAVSO Variable Star Plotter (VSP).
Hi,
I am new to photometry but dwarf novae are one of my favorite systems and am interested in this campaign. So will we be notified by email as to observation times? Because of where I'm living now I will be using iTelescop-probably telescope T21 in Mayhill, NM, USA-a 17" Planewave CDK. Any suggestion as to what is needed?
Thanks
Richard Brown
AAVSO Member
Hi Richard,
The scheduled time of each HST observation will be published in the forum as soon as we know them (typically three weeks before the observation takes place).
There are no constraints on the observing times on each night and you can carry out the observations at the most suitable time for you.
Does this answer your question?
Best,
Anna
Hello.
I am very interested in this campaing.
I fact, yesterday I uploaded my first observation of CH Uma.
A question. I have photometric filters but a friend (who has a bigger scope than mine) only have RGB filters.
As today it is very difficult to find photometric filters. Are valid observations with G filter (TG)?
Thanks for your answer.
Best regards.
José Prieto.
Jose,
I just took delivery on a 'V' Bessell filter made by Chroma in VT. AAVSO has approved these photometric filters as replacements for the original JC filters which are longer available. I plan to purchase a 'B' so I can use the two filters to determine by transformation coefficients and submit transformed 'V' observations. Like your friend, I have been submitting my observations in 'TG' until now. I'll be submitting 'V' data for this campaign.
regards
Gary
Thanks Gary.
Hi José,
Unfortunately G observations are more difficult to interpret in term of understanding the safety of the target for the HST detectors so we are not able to use them for this campaign. I'm sorry about that.
Best,
Anna
Anna,
Please forgive my follow up question on Jose’s original question. He was asking about submitting ‘TG’ ( tricolor G) not G. TG is accepted by AAVSO for variable star data submissions so I’m curious how TG versus V data (which I’ll be submitting) impacts HST’s safety. I don’t want to take a lot of your time but if there’s a relatively short and easy answer, I’d be interested to understand how the idea of ‘safety’, as it applies to HST’s detectors, is impacted by target image processing.
cheers,
Gary
Hi Anna and Gary.
Thanks for your comments.
To clarify. My question was about using RGB photographic filters instead of photometric filters but using a monochrome CCD. So, to upload observations you will choose a CCD camera (not DSLR) but with the TG filter option (because there is not G filter option).
But Anna's comment clarifies my question:
" Unfortunately G observations are more difficult to interpret in term of understanding the safety of the target for the HST detectors so we are not able to use them for this campaign"
Best regards.
José.
Hi Gary and José,
sorry for the long time it took me to get back to you.
Regarding the filter, in order to understand if the observations are safe for HST, we need the ground monitoring to probe the behaviour of the white dwarf and the accretion disc, which are the main source of emission in the ultraviolet. The V filter passband works well for this purpose while the TG filter has a broader passband and allows more light from the red portion of the spectrum, where the donor star starts to contribute to the overall emission of the system.
Because of this, the TG filter makes it more difficult to understand whether any variability will be relevant for HST.
Let me know in case of any other doubts/questions.
Cheers,
Anna
"... the TG filter has a broader passband and allows more light from the red portion of the spectrum, where the donor star starts to contribute to the overall emission of the system."
Anna,
Some astrophotography filters have sharp cutoffs between the passbands. The transmission curves are nearly rectangular with flat tops. For example, the passband of the G filter I use (from ZWO) is 480 to 590 nm approximately. According to the manufaturer's published transmission curves, there is no transmission at all above the upper limit.
Perhaps observers who have filters like these could use them in future campaigns?
Roy
Hi Roy,
Thanks for letting me know about this, the passbands I could find did not show the sharp cutoffs that you mentioned. I'll look into this in more details and I will also discuss with the HST team, as they need to confirm that such observations are ok from their side.
Best,
Anna
Hi Anna,
Thanks. The filters I referred to are individual astrophotography filters that are used in a filter wheel. The filters in DSLR and one shot colour astro cameras (at least the ones I have looked at) have broader passbands, with considerable overlapping of the bands and without sharp cutoffs.
Roy
Dear All,
Unfortunately the HST observations of CH UMa have been cancelled since HST entered a safe mode state following an issue with synchronisation messages. You can find more details here:
https://hubblesite.org/contents/news-releases/2021/news-2021-065
The HST observations of CH UMa will be rescheduled later on during the campaign.
Nonetheless, thank you so much for the data you have provided for this target and for the great coverage, it was amazing seeing how many data were coming in almost every night!
It would be very helpful if you could now prioritise the observations of YZ LMi, which is the target scheduled to be observed by HST in December (exact date still to be confirmed).
Thanks a lot for your support and good luck with your observations :)
Anna
Hi
I need clarification on submissions. I've seen notes here in the Forums to 'post' our observation reports here in the alert forum. On the instructions for this alert and others, it directs us to submit via WebObs - which is it please?
Gary
https://www.aavso.org/webobs
Or, once logged in, "Summit and access data" -> "Upload Photometry"
And you choose:
Individual Observations
Observation Files
Unreduced PEP observations (PEPObs)
JBD
Dear All,
The HST observations of YZ LMi are scheduled for December 30th, 2021.
It would be very helpful if you could start observing this target nightly for the next ten days and then, starting from December 23rd, obtain 3-4 points each night to ensure that this star is safe to be observed by HST.
As always, fell free to reach out for any questions or doubts.
Thank you all for your contribution!
Best,
Anna
AAVSO Alert Notice 762 announces that the SU UMa-type cataclysmic variable is being observed by HST on December 30, 2021. Please see the notice for details and observing instructions. This star is one of the targets in the campaign announced in Alert Notice 758.
There are threads for this campaign under the following forums:
- Campaigns and Observing Reports: https://www.aavso.org/hst-campaign-dwarf-novae-2021-2022
- Cataclysmic Variables https://www.aavso.org/hst-campaign-dwarf-novae-2021-2022-01
Please subscribe to these threads if you are participating in the campaign so you can be updated. Join in the discussion or ask questions there!
Many thanks, and Good observing,
Elizabeth O. Waagen, AAVSO HQ
Dear All,
The HST observations of YZ LMi will be executed on Thursday 30th at 11:11 UT.
Tonight's observations will be the most crucial to assess the quiescent state of the target and ensure the safety of the HST detectors.
It would be great if you could try to obtain two or three positive measurements tonight in V or CV. These will be used by the HST team to give the final approval for the observations.
Thanks you so much for all your hard work and support for this program!
All the best,
Anna
Dear All,
The HST observations of YZ LMi on December 30th have been successfully completed. This wouldn't have been possible without your support from the ground, so thank you all for all your help and hard work!
It would be very helpful if you could start observing the next target in the HST schedule, which is GP Com. The observations are scheduled for January 21st and the table on the Alert Notice 764 will be updated soon to reflect this information.
Thank you all for your support and good luck with your observations!
All the best,
Anna
AAVSO Alert Notice 764 gives the HST observing schedule for GP Com, the next target in Dr. Pala and colleagues' CV campaign. Please see the notice for details and observing instructions.
There are threads for this campaign under the following forums:
- Campaigns and Observing Reports: https://www.aavso.org/hst-campaign-dwarf-novae-2021-2022
- Cataclysmic Variables https://www.aavso.org/hst-campaign-dwarf-novae-2021-2022-01
Please subscribe to these threads if you are participating in the campaign so you can be updated. Join in the discussion or ask questions there!
Many thanks, and Good observing,
Elizabeth O. Waagen, AAVSO HQ
Dear All,
The HST observations of GP Com are scheduled for January 21st, 2022.
It would be very helpful if you could observe this target nightly till January 14th and then, in the week before the observations, obtain 3-4 points each night to ensure that this star is safe to be observed by HST.
Please note that GP Com is a high proper motion star and you might need to take this into account to properly identify the object.
The coordinates (epoch 2016) and proper motions reported by Gaia are:
RA 13:05:42.014
Dec 18:01:04.32
parallax 13.731 mas
PM RA -344.924 mas yr^-1
PM Dec 34.849 mas yr^-1
As always, fell free to reach out for any questions or doubts.
Thank you all for your work!
All the best,
Anna
Dear All,
The HST team informed us that, for logistic reasons, the HST observations of GP Com have been moved to January 18th.
Given the new observing date, could you continue the nightly monitoring till the 11th and then start taking 3-4 points per night from the 12th onwards?
Thanks a lot for all the great data you have taken so far and good luck with the upcoming observations :)
Best,
Anna
Dear All,
Unfortunately there has been an issue with the guide stars for the HST observations of GP Com. This means that tomorrow's observations cannot be executed as planned but they have been postponed and, most likely, will be re-scheduled in March.
The data you have collected so far will still be very useful for us to assess the long-term behaviour of this star and our team is deeply grateful for the amazing and invaluable job you all have been doing :)
For the moment, I would suggest to put the observations of GP Com on hold and resume them later on, when the new observation date will be released.
I'll post it here as soon as we know it. We will also update the table on the main page of the Alert Notice with this information.
Thanks a lot for all your work and support.
All the best,
Anna
We are receiving multiple requests to use AAVSOnet for this campaign. It would be better if observers could coordinate their efforts into a single proposal. This forum seems like a good place to do so.
AAVSOnet for Alert Notice 758
I could try and coordinate a single AAVSOnet proposal for Alert 758 since I've submitted proposals for YZ LMi and V1239 Her already. Richard Brown has also submitted for GP Mod.
We have the list of CVs through 2022 per month to start with and when Dr. Anna Pala finalizes the HST observe date, the request for observing that month's start is made via a new Alert. Typical request is for a cadence of multiple observations per night to start immediately and then daily, following the HST observation date through a final date a couple weeks after. Since the quiescent mag are running 16th - 19th magnitude, I've been requesting FSM and being assigned TM061.
One suggestion for a single proposal would be to create a table of remaining stars with need month, exposure time, number of exposures and each assigned to an AAVSO observer. Per Alert 758, we would only need to use a V filter. Once the actual HST date is firmed up, we would need a mechanism to kick off the script for that star and verify cadence and end date.
Questions:
1. Would creating this table work for setting up the scripts for the rest of the stars?
2. What would be the best way to notify you once we get the HST observe date to start the observations?
3. Would we be using primarily TM061 or would other FSM telescopes be available, allowing multiple AAVSO observers to participate?
I invite other interested observers to chime in... and I guess I'm volunteering to put this proposal together:)
Brian
RBCA
Brian:
1. I will send you a plan template to fill in (csv file). Makes it easier for me to create the plan(s).
2. Likely that two FSM scopes will be available for northern/mid targets. One FSM for very southern targets, if any.
3. You can select one observer for each target/scope. Need their obs code.
4. You can define start/end dates and cadence for date intervals and send me new plan for each target as it is announced. Takes me 15 minutes to commit.
5. We should just talk once so you learn how to set up first one, then you can send others as you create them when listed.
Ken
Looks like this is proceeding in a good way.
AAVSO Alert Notice 765 announces a schedule change for the HST observations of GP Com. Please see the notice for details and observing instructions.
There are threads for this campaign under the following forums:
- Campaigns and Observing Reports: https://www.aavso.org/hst-campaign-dwarf-novae-2021-2022
- Cataclysmic Variables https://www.aavso.org/hst-campaign-dwarf-novae-2021-2022-01
Please subscribe to these threads if you are participating in the campaign so you can be updated. Join in the discussion or ask questions there!
Many thanks, and Good observing,
Elizabeth O. Waagen, AAVSO HQ
Dear All,
Unfortunately there has been an issue with the guide stars for the HST observations of GP Com. This means that tomorrow's observations cannot be executed as planned but they have been postponed and, most likely, will be re-scheduled in March.
The data you have collected so far will still be very useful for us to assess the long-term behaviour of this star and our team is deeply grateful for the amazing and invaluable job you all have been doing :)
For the moment, I would suggest to put the observations of GP Com on hold and resume them later on, when the new observation date will be released.
I'll post it here as soon as we know it. We will also update the table on the main page of the Alert Notice with this information.
Thanks a lot for all your work and support.
All the best,
Anna
Dear All,
The next target to be observed by HST is V1239 Her. The observations are scheduled for February 15th.
For the moment, nightly observations are enough to monitor its behaviour while, on the week before the HST observations, 3-4 points each night will be ideal to ensure that this star is safe for HST. I'll post a reminder about this in early February.
Please note that V1239 Her is an eclipsing system with an orbital period of 144 minutes, while the eclipse lasts ~10 minutes.
As always, fell free to reach out for any questions or doubts.
Thank you all for your work and good luck with your observations!
All the best,
Anna
Dear All,
The HST observations of V1239 Her will happen between Feb 15th 21:01 and Feb 16th 01:04 (UT time).
It would be very helpful if you could continue monitoring this target and try to obtain two or three positive measurements per night (in V or CV), from today till the 16th.
Particularly, it is crucial to obtain a positive detection of the target the day before the HST observations, in order for the HST team to finally approve their execution.
Thank you for all the data you have collected so far and good luck with the observations!
All the best,
Anna
Good day.
Our measurements of V1239 Her for the previous 3 nights (Feb. 3, 10, and 12, 2022) were submitted to the AAVSO Webobs (code: OAAA).
I planned to capture V1239 Her tonight (during HST observations), hopefully, but latest forecast depict foggy conditions by that time.
Thank you very much. Clear skies.
edit: It fogged up that time. But will observe the following early morning, Feb. 17, 2021.
Best regards,
Aldrin B. Gabuya
Al Sadeem Astronomy Observatory (OAAA)
Dear Aldrin,
Thanks for the update :)
It's a pity that the weather didn't cooperate yesterday night, hopefully the conditions will improve for tomorrow morning!
Thanks a lot for your support to this program!
Best,
Anna
AAVSO Alert Notice 768 gives the HST observing schedule for V1239 Her, the next target in Dr. Pala and colleagues' CV campaign. Please see the notice for details and observing instructions.
There are threads for this campaign under the following forums:
- Campaigns and Observing Reports: https://www.aavso.org/hst-campaign-dwarf-novae-2021-2022
- Cataclysmic Variables https://www.aavso.org/hst-campaign-dwarf-novae-2021-2022-01
Please subscribe to these threads if you are participating in the campaign so you can be updated. Join in the discussion or ask questions there!
Many thanks, and Good observing,
Elizabeth O. Waagen, AAVSO HQ
Dear All,
The HST observations of V1239 Her have been successfully completed yesterday night.
As always, your support has been crucial for making this happening and we are really grateful for all your work!
It would be very helpful if you could start observing the next target in the HST schedule, which is V493 Gem (ASASSN-14mv). This should be observed by HST around March 15th, I'll post here the exact date in the next days.
Thank you all for your support and good luck with your observations!
All the best,
Anna
Hi,
since HST observation for V0493 Gem are scheduled for mid-March: with the waxing moon coming closer (tonight app. 24 deg between moon and V0493 Gem) are "close moon" observation nonetheless usefull? I usually avoid observing so close to the moon;-)
Regards,
Frank
Hi Frank,
The observations would still be helpful to detect possible outbursts (the target will brighten to ~12 mag during an outburst, and the moon shouldn't be too much of a problem in this case).
The HST observations of V493 Gem are scheduled for March 25th (I'm going to post this now on the forum) so the next few days are not the most critical for the monitoring and we will interpret the photometric data keeping in mind of the contamination from the moon.
Thanks for your contribution to the monitoring :)
Best,
Anna
Dear All,
The HST observations of V493 Gem (aka ASASSN-14mv) are scheduled for March 25th, between 19:48:13 and 23:55:31 UT.
Thanks for the data you have been obtaining so far for this target. For the next week, nightly observations are still enough to monitor its behaviour while, starting on March 18th, 3-4 points each night will be ideal to ensure that this star is safe for HST.
As always, fell free to reach out for any questions or doubts.
Thank you all for your work and good luck with your observations!
All the best,
Anna
Hi Anna,
can you provide an update on the postponed observations on GP Com, too?
Regards,
Frank
Hi Frank,
Unfortunately we don't have a new date yet for the HST observations of GP Com.
Possibly, they will happen in April. I'll post the details here as soon as I have them from the HST team.
Best,
Anna
AAVSO Alert Notice 772 gives the HST observing schedule for V493 Gem, the next target in Dr. Pala and colleagues' CV campaign. Please see the notice for details and observing instructions.
There are threads for this campaign under the following forums:
- Campaigns and Observing Reports: https://www.aavso.org/hst-campaign-dwarf-novae-2021-2022
- Cataclysmic Variables https://www.aavso.org/hst-campaign-dwarf-novae-2021-2022-01
Please subscribe to these threads if you are participating in the campaign so you can be updated. Join in the discussion or ask questions there!
Many thanks, and Good observing,
Elizabeth O. Waagen, AAVSO HQ
Greetings,
Sorry but weather has gone bad here. May not be able to get V493 Gem before the scheduled HST-COS observation.
Others will have to get it per the Alert Notice 772.
DEY
Good conditions here. All seems "quiet" for V493 Gem at around 18.2 (V):
http://bikeman.selfhost.eu/astro/V493Gem/pretty_crop_calib_stacked_all_V493%20Gem_00001_20_50_22Z_V_fp_2.jpg
stacked: http://bikeman.selfhost.eu/astro/V493Gem/calib_stacked_all_V493%20Gem_00001_19_51_36Z_V_fp.fit
Good luck for the HST observation!
HBE
I just noticed there is a little inconsistency about the HST observation timeslot : the alert linked via the AAVSO homeopage states it is March 25 09:48:13 - 23:55:31 UT. , whle in this thread a start time of 19:48 UT is mentioned, which makes more sense in terms of the length of the slot perhaps. So I have started opbservations this night and will have a measurement in half an hour or so.
24h before HST obs , still at ~18 mag (V)
HB
From tonight's first incoming images I just measured V493 Gem at around mag 18.1
Data will be send to AAVSO (WebObs) tomorrow morning.
Regards,
Frank
Dear All,
The HST observations of V493 Gem were successfully carried out on Friday night.
Thanks a lot for your work and all the data you have obtained!
I'm going to post here the schedule for the next target in the next few days.
All the best,
Anna
Dear All,
Unfortunately, SDSS J154453.60+255348.8 had to be removed from the HST target list. This system has long eclipses (lasting ~40 minutes) which make the scheduling of the acquisition challenging. As additional scheduling constraints cannot be implemented at the moment, this target will not be observed by HST.
All the best,
Anna
Dear All,
The HST observations of GP Com are scheduled for April 29th. We still don't know the exact timing but I'll post it here as soon as I have the information.
Thanks for the data you have been obtaining so far for this target. For the next few days, nightly observations are still enough to monitor its behaviour while, starting on April 22nd, 3-4 points each night will be ideal to ensure that this star is safe for HST.
As always, fell free to reach out for any questions or doubts.
Thank you all for your work and good luck with your observations!
All the best,
Anna