AAVSO Special Notice

October 3, 2007: It was reported in CBET 1091 by U. Munari et al. that the symbiotic star AG Draconis is again in outburst following the decline from its April 2006 bright outburst. They note that the decline apparently halted on 2007 July 07, and has since brightened steadily. Their observations place AG Dra at V = 8.98 on 2007 September 30.8 UT (B = 9.69 and B-V = +0.71). They also note the presence of strong hydrogen and helium emission lines.

September 13, 2007

September 10, 2007: We have been informed by Dr. Paula Szkody that science observations of PQ Andromedae with the Hubble Space Telescope have been scheduled for this coming Wednesday, September 12, 2007 and Thursday, September 13, 2007 (UT). Dr. Szkody requests intensive coverage of this object through the night of September 11/12, 2007 (Tuesday/Wednesday UT) which is when the final decision will be made on whether PQ Andromedae is in quiescence and is deemed safe to observe.

September 7, 2007

SYMBIOTIC VARIABLE 1848-19 FN SGR ACTIVE

September 4, 2007: The WZ Sge-candidate object HS 2331+3905 [V455 And] has been reported in outburst on VSNET by two observers. This object was last reported as fainter than 14.6 on JD 2454347.3931 (Sept 3, 2007, 21:26 UT), and has now been detected at 14.59 and 14.4 by observers in Japan. HS 2331+3905 has never been observed in outburst before, and observations are strongly encouraged.

September 12, 2007: According to IAU Circular 8868 (Daniel E. W. Green, editor), N. N. Samus, Institute of Astronomy, Moscow, reports that the dwarf nova cataclysmic variable 2328+38 HS 2331+3905 is now V455 And, and HS 2331+3905 has been assigned the official name V455 And. The AAVSO validation file has been changed to reflect this new name. Please use V455 AND when reporting observations.

V455 AND is located at RA 23:34:01.55, Dec +39:21:42.9 (J2000)

August 20, 2007: As described in Alert Notice 351, we are running an extended campaign on the newly discovered eclipsing Cepheid ASAS 182611+1212.6. Doug Welch has reminded me that the primary eclipse is predicted to be around August 28 around 0130UT. However, the eclipses are many days long, and the binary light curve is continuously changing, so don't just observe on the 28th.

August 16, 2007: As published in CBET 1034 by D. Madison and W. Li, Supernova 2007gr was discovered at magnitude 13.8 by KAIT on August 15.53 UT, and is currently at magnitude 13.5 on August 16.47. It is located in the bright spiral galaxy NGC 1058, approximately 30 arcseconds northwest of the nucleus.

The coordinates of the supernova are (J2000):

RA: 02:43:27.98     Dec: +37:20:44.7

August 19, 2007: Data for SN 2007gr can now be submitted to the AAVSO using the following Harvard Designation and/or name: 0237+36B SN 2007GR

Latest report from Martin Nicholson is that the SN is at V=12.83 and continuing to rise. The two prior SNe in NGC 1058 both reached a peak brightness about this level, so SN 2007gr may not get much brighter.

August 22, 2007: CBET 1038 reports that the GCVS team has given the nova the formal name of V458 Vul. Please use 1950+20 V458 Vul for all future submissions through WebObs.