Affiliation
American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO)
Thu, 10/26/2023 - 20:46
Alert Notice 838 announces the targets and approximate schedule for the third year of the HST CV observing campaign by Pala et al. Please see the notice for details and observing instructions.
There are threads for this campaign under the following AAVSO forums:
- Campaigns and Observing Reports: https://www.aavso.org/hst-campaign-dwarf-novae-2023-2024
- Cataclysmic Variables: https://www.aavso.org/hst-campaign-dwarf-novae-2023-2024-01
Please subscribe to these threads if you are participating in the campaign so you can be updated, ask questions, and join in the discussion!
Many thanks, and Good observing,
Elizabeth O. Waagen, AAVSO HQ
Hello.
How do we get in touch with Drs Pala and Kupfer? We have some questions for them. Thank you, Grady
Hi Grady,
Post your questions here in the forum, and Drs. Pala and Kupfer will see it.
Good observing,
Elizabeth
Hello Dr Pala and Dr Kupfer.
My name is Grady Boyce and my father, Pat Boyce, and I run a non-profit educational foundation focused on Astronomy. We would like to participate in this project.
Here is what we can offer to your project:
Two PWI CDK-17 scopes, equitorially mounted, and run via ACP. We have JC-V on both of these. Our south scope (BARO) uses a FLI ProLine 4710 camera, and the north scope (BARON) uses a QHY600 CMOS. Due to the location of the observatories, we'll be limited to a Declination greater than -15.
Question for you both: Would it be ok if we included a student graduate of ours in this program to help Boyce Astro and interface with you as well? These students are well vetted and we'll only provide reliable sources to the project.
Appreciate this opportunity, and look forward to chatting with you. Grady Boyce (grady@boyce-astro.org)
Hello Grady,
Thanks for reaching out, and welcome aboard!
The participation of the student is more than welcome, fell free to contact me/post here in case of any questions or doubts.
All the best,
Anna
Dear All,
Thanks a lot for joining this campaign!
The HST observations of our first target, BF Eri, have been scheduled for
Nov 10, 2023 02:58:57 Nov 10, 2023 07:05:35 - UT time
It would be very helpful if you could continue monitoring this object for the next week, with few data points per night. In particular, it is crucial to obtain a positive detection of the target the day before the HST observations (i.e. Nov 9), in order for the HST team to finally approve their execution.
Good luck with the observations!
Thank and all the best,
Anna
Hello Anna,
how did it go with the observation of BF Eri with HST? Did it happen? Do we still need to observe it?
Thanks for keeping us posted with your project
--Normand
Dear Normand, dear All,
Unfortunately the observations of BF Eri weren't successful. Because of a failure, the COS shutter didn't open and no data were recorded. We'll be working with the HST team to re-observe this object. Most likely, this is going to happen later next year therefore, for the moment, there is no need to observe this target anymore. I'll keep you posted on any news about the re-scheduling.
Thanks a lot anyway to you all for your data and work.
Regarding the next target, KZ Gem, we still don't have a date for the observations. I'll post here as soon as I have more details.
All the best,
Anna
Alert Notice 839 announces the HST observing schedule on 2023 November 10 for the cataclysmic variable BF Eri. Please see the notice for details and observing instructions.
There are threads for this campaign under the following AAVSO forums:
- Campaigns and Observing Reports: https://www.aavso.org/hst-campaign-dwarf-novae-2023-2024
- Cataclysmic Variables: https://www.aavso.org/hst-campaign-dwarf-novae-2023-2024-01
Please subscribe to these threads if you are participating in the campaign so you can be updated, ask questions, and join in the discussion!
Many thanks, and Good observing,
Elizabeth O. Waagen, AAVSO HQ
ASASSN-20pv has had an outburst as of last night.
ASASSN-20pv 231203.631 132.
The last outburst was in January 2022 and had several rebrightenings over the following four months.
Hi Rod,
Thanks a lot for this update!
This is very helpful since the HST observations are expected to be happen in March. Hopefully, there will be enough time for the target to go back to a deep quiescence by then.
Thanks,
Anna
Please note that KZ Gem has a close 14.5 mag companion just 7 arcsec north of the variable. Looking at this rich starfield on DSS images there are actually a couple more stars very close to KZ Gem similar in brightness to the variable when it's faint. Take a look at the light curve generator and it's obvious that some observers are measuring the wrong star or are at least including the companion in their measurement aperture: KZ Gem appears to be 14.5 mag and 17.0 at the same time!
If you can't reliably separate the two stars make sure you use an aperture large enough to include both stars and indicate that the reported magnitude is the combined light. Better yet, subtract the contribution of the companion before reporting an observation - there's a spreadsheet kicking around on the AAVSO site to do that; I think it is called "Nemesis". Given that KZ Gem's maximum magnitude in VSX is only 14.0, however, you'll need to be very careful since even during an outburst the combined magnitude won't be that much higher, and it will be hard to tell if the variable is bright.
Shawn (DKS)
I need to second this although the close star is actually shown as a 14.7 comp star on the chart that I am using (X34550BHK)-- I've noticed at least two observers doing what you mentioned (there may be more)-- reporting the brightness of the comp rather than the target. Everyone be sure that your chart goes deep enough-- one of the observers in question is using a chart that only goes down to 14.5 (and has a really wide field of view) so he can't see that the 147 star is a comp star and not KZ Gem. I sent HQ an email about the discrepant entries from the two observers several days ago, but so far the entries are still there-- maybe they just haven't gotten to them yet.
Tom (RTH)
Alert Notice 845 reports on the HST observing schedule for ASASSN-18dg. Please see the notice for details and observing instructions.
There are threads for this campaign under the following AAVSO forums:
- Campaigns and Observing Reports: https://www.aavso.org/hst-campaign-dwarf-novae-2023-2024
- Cataclysmic Variables: https://www.aavso.org/hst-campaign-dwarf-novae-2023-2024-01
Please subscribe to these threads if you are participating in the campaign so you can be updated, ask questions, and join in the discussion!
Many thanks, and Good observing,
Elizabeth O. Waagen, AAVSO HQ
Dear All,
At the end of November HST entered a safe mode and returned to science operations only in mid-December.
As a consequence, the scheduling for our program had to be revised and, unfortunately, the observations of KZ Gem have been postponed to a future date TBD. Nonetheless, the data you have obtained so far will still be very useful to understand the outburst recurrence time and better schedule the HST observations in the next possible window.
The HST team has decided to move to the target for January, ASASSN-18dg, which will be observed on January 11th. The exact time is not confirmed yet, and I'll post it here as soon as I have more details.
It would be very helpful if you could monitore this object for the next two weeks, with few data points per night. In particular, it is crucial to obtain a positive detection of the target the day before the HST observations (i.e. January 10th), in order for the HST team to finally approve their execution.
Thanks to you all for work and I wish you all the best for the new year!
Anna
Dear All,
The time of the HST observations of ASASSN-18dg is the following
Jan 11, 2024 20:15:00 - Jan 12, 2024 00:20:47 (UT time)
Any data you can collect tonight and tomorrow night (i.e. Jan 10) will be extremely useful for the HST team to finally approve the HST observations of this target.
Good luck with the observations!
Thank and all the best,
Anna
Greetings,
Took extra time to process last nights data and uploaded after your comment. ASASSN-18dg was clearly below 185 in a 3x900s clear filter stack.
The 191 star seemed to be much fainter around 198 or so. Still not sure if the 191 was on a few bad pixels or a real decline hence the <185 est.
High thin variable cloud as well didn't help.
Jim (DEY)
Got some data last night in difficult conditions (last bits of wind from the storm that just ripped through the South-East). I had to switch to CV to collect data faster between wind gusts. It looks like ASASSN-18dg was hanging around magnitude 19.2 on 2024 Jan. 10.22722
I should be able to get some V data tonight and will process it quickly to upload before going to bed (Jan 11th ~05:00 UTC)
JF (GJED)
Dear All,
Thanks for all the updates and the data you collected!
The HST observations of ASASSN-18dg were approved and were executed successfully. We got the entire data set without any problems with the instrument shutter, which affected some of the past observations.
So thank you all for your support!
The next target in the schedule is SDSS J080449.49+161624.8, which will be observed on February 16th (exact time TBC).
It would be very helpful if you could keep monitoring this object with few data points per night. In particular, 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.
Thanks and all the best,
Anna
Hi Anna,
BF Eri is in an outburst as of tonight 240110.495 132
ASASSN-20pv is still active at around 15.2 from its outburst in December 2023.
ASASSN-19ct is having a bright outburst starting last night 240109.583 136. This one has bright and faint outbursts. The last one was in June 2023 at 15.1
Cheers,
Rod.
Hi Rod, hi All,
Thanks for the update and the data!
The observations of the outburst of BF Eri are going to be useful for us to refine the prediction for the outburst occurrence in the upcoming months, so that we can try to avoid repeating the HST observations in those months in which an outburst is most likely going to occur.
It finally looks like ASASSN-20pv is going back to quiescence, so I'm optimistic about the possibility of being able to successfully observe it with HST observations in March.
I'm also optimist for ASASSN-19ct, since the outburst is happening now, there are good chances for the HST observations in April to be successful.
So these are all good news for us :)
Cheers,
Anna
Link to the Alert Notice has been corrected - apologies! - Elizabeth
Alert Notice 848 announces the scheduling with HST of the CV SDSS J080449.49+161624.8 (Cnc). Please see the notice for details and observing instructions.
There are threads for this campaign under the following AAVSO forums:
- Campaigns and Observing Reports: https://www.aavso.org/hst-campaign-dwarf-novae-2023-2024
- Cataclysmic Variables: https://www.aavso.org/hst-campaign-dwarf-novae-2023-2024-01
Please subscribe to these threads if you are participating in the campaign so you can be updated, ask questions, and join in the discussion!
Many thanks, and Good observing,
Elizabeth O. Waagen, AAVSO HQ
Alert Notice 850 announces the exact HST observing schedule on 2024 February 16-17 for the cataclysmic variable SDSS J080449.49+161624.8. Please see the notice for details and observing instructions.
There are threads for this campaign under the following AAVSO forums:
- Campaigns and Observing Reports: https://www.aavso.org/hst-campaign-dwarf-novae-2023-2024
- Cataclysmic Variables: https://www.aavso.org/hst-campaign-dwarf-novae-2023-2024-01
Please subscribe to these threads if you are participating in the campaign so you can be updated, ask questions, and join in the discussion!
Many thanks, and Good observing,
Elizabeth O. Waagen, AAVSO HQ
Alert Notice 857 announces the scheduling with HST for April 5-6 of the CV SDSS J080846.19+313106.0 (Cnc). Please see the notice for details and observing instructions.
There are threads for this campaign under the following AAVSO forums:
- Campaigns and Observing Reports: https://www.aavso.org/hst-campaign-dwarf-novae-2023-2024
- Cataclysmic Variables: https://www.aavso.org/hst-campaign-dwarf-novae-2023-2024-01
Please subscribe to these threads if you are participating in the campaign so you can be updated, ask questions, and join in the discussion!
Many thanks, and Good observing,
Elizabeth O. Waagen, AAVSO HQ
Dear All,
The observations of SDSS0808+3131 were successfully executed early this month.
In May, HST will observe two targets:
ASASSN-19ct (GALEX-J113315.3-371019) scheduled on May 17th
and
ASASSN-20pv (WD-J104019.50-495129.7) scheduled on May 30th
The exact time are TBC and I'll post here as soon as I have more information.
Any data you can collect for these targets in the next weeks, especially on the nights before the HST observations, will be extremely useful for the HST team to finally approve the observations of this target.
Thanks and have a nice weekend!
Anna
Alert Notice 860 announces that the cataclysmic variable ASASSN-19ct (Cen) will be observed with HST on 2024 May 17. Please see the notice for details and observing instructions.
There are threads for this campaign under the following AAVSO forums:
- Campaigns and Observing Reports: https://www.aavso.org/hst-campaign-dwarf-novae-2023-2024
- Cataclysmic Variables: https://www.aavso.org/hst-campaign-dwarf-novae-2023-2024-01
Please subscribe to these threads if you are participating in the campaign so you can be updated, ask questions, and join in the discussion!
Many thanks, and Good observing,
Elizabeth O. Waagen, AAVSO HQ
Alert Notice 861 announces that the cataclysmic variable ASASSN-20pv (Vel) will be observed with HST on 2024 May 30. Please see the notice for details and observing instructions.
ASASSN-20pv is the second of two targets scheduled to be observed with HST in May for this campaign. The requested coverage intervals for both targets overlap, but if your observing time is limited, please give priority to covering ASASSN-19ct (scheduled for May 17 with HST, Alert Notice 860), then pick up ASASSN-20pv on the 17th.
There are threads for this campaign under the following AAVSO forums:
- Campaigns and Observing Reports: https://www.aavso.org/hst-campaign-dwarf-novae-2023-2024
- Cataclysmic Variables: https://www.aavso.org/hst-campaign-dwarf-novae-2023-2024-01
Please subscribe to these threads if you are participating in the campaign so you can be updated, ask questions, and join in the discussion!
Many thanks, and Good observing,
Elizabeth O. Waagen, AAVSO HQ
Alert Notice 862 announces the exact times for HST observations of the cataclysmic variable ASASSN-19ct (Cen) on 2024 May 18 (date revised from Alert Notice 860). Please see Alert Notice 862 for details and observing instructions.
There are threads for this campaign under the following AAVSO forums:
- Campaigns and Observing Reports: https://www.aavso.org/hst-campaign-dwarf-novae-2023-2024
- Cataclysmic Variables: https://www.aavso.org/hst-campaign-dwarf-novae-2023-2024-01
Please subscribe to these threads if you are participating in the campaign so you can be updated, ask questions, and join in the discussion!
Many thanks, and Good observing,
Elizabeth O. Waagen, AAVSO HQ