Z Cam - Recent Behavior

Affiliation
American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO)
Thu, 05/16/2013 - 18:12

I was wondering how many others have recognized the interesting recent behavior exhibited by Z Cam while in its latest standstill? Entering its interval of minimum activity about half way between max and min during the decline phase of its last outburst at the beginning of December 2012, it has never quite lost evidence of its roughly 14-day outburst cycle, although the range has been very much subdued in amplitude.

However, beginning in April the amplitude of these cyclic fluctuations began to increase from their former range of ~0.5 magnitudes with each new cycle becoming slightly larger than the previous one. The current range of variation has now reached a full magnitude. It will be interesting to see just how this odd pseudo-standstill phase terminates, whether with the star declining to minimum, or a rise to a full max.

J.Bortle   (BRJ)