Hi All
Just catching RT Normae coming out of morning twilight and evidently still well below maximum: V=12.35 (0.03) on January 4.72 2014 UT. Looking at its' recent past history suggests it may not have been at 'normal' maximum since 2008 .... yet another example of an RCB currently in the midst of a very long fade. One thing a bit different here seems to be the smaller ( ~ 4m) amplitude as compared to several other members of this type recently/currently in very long, deep fades like R CrB, UW Cen, SU Tau, S Aps, and U Aqr.
What an interesting bunch !
Steve