SS LMi fading from unobserved outburst ? Sweeping through stars listed in Tonny Vanmunster's poorly studied CVs I found SS LMi beeing significantly brighter than its normal brightness of [21p (see "The complete TOAD list" of Steve Howell: http://vsnet.psi.edu/toads.list) but not at its maximum brightness of about 15p. Using a 60-cm-Cassegrain equipped with a CCD camera at Sonneberg Observatory I could measure in B,V and R band. Linking to the finding chart at the Cataclysmics Home P@ge (http://vsnet.cv.psi.edu/pages/ss_lmi.html) the object was about 18.5+/-0.3 in V (1996 Feb. 26.2). It is difficult to get reliable magnitudes since the GSC magnitudes given in the finding chart cannot be regarded as very accurate. Owing to the measurements in B and in R, the object seems to be bluish. I will try to link these magnitudes to calibrated stars within the next clear nights. Unfortunately, the weather at the last night (Feb. 26/27) was too poor to find the star. And during this night (Feb. 27/28) the moon did its job to flood every exposure and I could'nt find the star again. So I wonder if somebody else could be able to find and measure this star during the very next days (nights). I am also not absolutely sure that I catched the right star. Tonny Vanmunster's GSC finding chart indicates the position only roughly, if we take into account that the object is 21mag normally. The fainter the limit the more stars might be the right candidate. About 2 arc min to the west appears another (reddish) star of about 18.5/19th magnitude, but its position deviates slightly from that in the finding chart. Given that identification and measurements are correct, the question arises, if SS LMi has had an unobserved outburst in the last days or weeks, or if its normal state is brighter than 21 mag. I have checked observations of SS LMi mainly made by T.Vanmunster and G. Poyner, published in the last VSNET Circulars. These are all "fainter than" observations with a limit of about 15. SS LMi is listed with 15p-[21p. Perhaps we did not notice former outbursts with a maximum brightness not reaching that height? Best regards, Peter Kroll -- +----------------------+----------------------+---------------------------+ | Dr. Peter Kroll | | | +----------------------+ Sternwarte Sonneberg | S O N N E B E R G | | Tel. (49) 3675 81214 | Sternwartestr. 32 | | | Fax. (49) 3675 81219 | D 96515 Sonneberg | O B S E R V A T O R Y | | pk@stw.tu-ilmenau.de | GERMANY | | +----------------------+----------------------+---------------------------+