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[vsnet-alert 345] SS LMI fading from unobserved outburst?



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              |
|
+----------------------+----------------------+---------------------------+

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