Dear Taichi, I was just having a look at Berto's run and actually was captured by the shape of the feature you point out in your message. Such a deep (around 0.5 mag) fading is very different from the other features visible on the same curve, having a shorter timescale. Also, at the bottom part of the eclipse, there is an interesting feature (0.1 mag), which should be interesting to investigate. A very close observation os this fashinating star is definitely urged! Regards, Gianluca Taichi Kato wrote: > > V4641 Sgr: eclipse!? > > Dear Colleagues, > > We have received two new data sets from Berto Monard (see vsnet-alert > 7342). On May 21/22, the system underwent a deep fading between May 22.0 > and 22.1 UT. This timing agrees with the expected inferior conjunction > (ephemeris from Orosz et al. 2001; updated by Uemura et al. 2002). > During this fading, strong flickering activity virtually disappeared! > Such behavior could be reasonably explained if the (compact) flickering > body was eclipsed by the secondary (first case in microquasars, if > confirmed). There was an indication that flickers rapidly emerged > when the system brightened from this fading. During the declining branch, > flickering was less apparent than on the brightening branch. > > On May 22/23, the strong ultra-short-period flickering were always > present in high-speed photometry (5-s integratrations), as on May 20-21. > > Expected times of inferior conjunctions (likely eclipses), in geocentric > UT. Times are approximate (to 1 hr or so) owing to the unavoidable > uncertainty in the epoch and period. > > 20020519 06:39:14 > 20020522 02:15:53 > 20020524 21:52:33 > 20020527 17:29:15 > 20020530 13:05:57 > > If this interpretation is correct, the object is expected to remain > active until late May 24. Continuous coverage is most urgently needed. > More detailed analysis, together with newly available data, will be > later presented by Uemura-san. The Kyoto team is planning to make > high-speed (1s) photometry at Ouda tonight, depending on the conditions. > You will hear more from Uemura-san about the progress of the observation > and data analysis. > > Regards, > Taichi Kato > VSNET Collaboration team -- *********************************************************************** * Gianluca Masi "Two things fill the soul * * Via Madonna de Loco, 47 with awe and reverence [...]: * * 03023 Ceccano (FR) the starry sky above me and * * ITALY the moral law within me" * * e-mail: gianmasi@fr.flashnet.it * * web: http://vsnet.bellatrixobservatory.org I. Kant * * Minor Planet Center Obs. Code: 470 - Ceccano * * Center for Backyard Astrophysics - Italy * * VSNET Collaboration Team member * * CCD-astrometry-photometry@egroup.com mailing-list moderator * ***********************************************************************