FT Cam outburst YYYYMMDD(UT) mag observer 20020109.719 <146 (Timo Kinnunen) 20020112.063 <146 (Mike Simonsen) 20020115.848 <151 (Gary Poyner) 20020118.051 <159 (Gary Poyner) 20020120.106 <146 (Mike Simonsen) 20020125.057 <146 (Gary Poyner) 20020202.989 <156 (Maciej Reszelski) 20020204.922 140 (Maciej Reszelski) 20020204.978 138 (Maciej Reszelski) 20020204.995 138 (Maciej Reszelski) The outburst is a relatively rare one. See also IBVS 5082, Kato et al. Excerpt of the discussion: Astrometry of FT Cam from our outburst images has yielded the J2000.0 position of 03\h 21\m 14\fs 33, +61\deg 05\arcm 26\farcs 3 (based on 13 GSC-ACT stars). This value is pretty close to other reported astrometry of 03\h 21\m 14\fs 33, +61\deg 05\arcm 26\farcs 0 (Antipin 1999) and 03\h 21\m 14\fs 35, +61\deg 05\arcm 26\farcs 1 (Schmeer 2000a), but our result is considered as more accurate because we used the ICRS-based astrometric grid, GSC-ACT. The corresponding USNO A2.0 star (on the same astrometric grid) has end figures of 14\fs 415, 25\farcs 73, which is 0\farcs 8 different from the current measurement. The comparison of DSS 2 plate taken on 1993 December 11 with DSS 1 (epoch 1954.074) further confirms the noticeable proper motion between them. The observed proper motion 0\farcs 02 yr$^{-1}$ is relatively large among dwarf novae (cf. Harrison et al. 2000; Thorstensen 1999). The observed proper motion suggests that FT Cam is a relatively nearby object, likely located within 1 kpc from us, corresponding to the maximum trangential velocity of 100 km s$^{-1}$ (for a discussion on velocity dispersions of cataclysmic variables, see Harrison et al. 2000). The inferred conservative upper limit $M_V=+4$ mag of the absolute magnitude in outburst is marginally consistent with known absolute magnitudes of dwarf novae (Warner 1987). However, many of observed maxima having been fainter than 14.5, the object may be intrinsically fainter than usual dwarf novae. This possibility may be strengthened by the low outburst frequency and shortness of outbursts, which are relatively unusual for dwarf novae, but are more typical for outbursts of intermediate polars (IPs). Since the accretion disks in IPs are magnetically truncated, this may explain the low luminosity and short duration of outbursts. The identification of FT Cam with a relatively hard ROSAT source 1RXS J032114.1+610535 may be a further support for the IP interpretation. Further observations in quiescence in order to search for possible coherent oscillations are encouraged.