*** News from VSNET *** K. Haseda discovered a new nova in Scorpius. The recurrent nova, RS Oph is now active. Rare outbursts of BC UMa and SW UMa are reported. For more detail information about these objects, see below, "VSNET Weekly Campaign Summary" of the last week. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- VSNET (Variable Star Network) is an international variable star observing network, covering various areas of novae, supernovae, cataclysmic variables (CVs), X-ray transients, and other classical eruptive, pulsating, and eclipsing variables. VSNET is one of invited contributing organizations to the SkyPub AstroAlert system. The "News from VSNET", mainly focusing on recent remarkable activities of CVs and related systems, is issued on a weekly basis, except on occasions of extremely urgent or transient events. Please refer to the VSNET Home Page for more details of events and objects listed. VSNET Home Page: http://vsnet.kusastro.kyoto-u.ac.jp/vsnet/ VSNET provides a number of mailing lists, on which various news and topics are discussed. Subscriptions to the VSNET mailing lists are free of charge; please refer to the instruction on the above page if a reader needs more information of the list structure. CCD observations of such targets are a relatively easy task for a 20-40cm telescope; simply take as many CCD frames (with exposure times 10-30 sec) as possible, spanning several hours per night. The only requirements are the weather and your patience! If you need more help on the observing technique, please feel free to ask on the vsnet-campaign list. We would sincerely appreciate volunteers who would join the VSNET Collaboration team to study the wonders of these exotic variable stars. To join the VSNET campaign collaborative list, send an e-mail to vsnet-adm@kusastro.kyoto-u.ac.jp (VSNET administrator) with a line "SUBSCRIBE vsnet-campaign." (VSNET campaign members are strongly recommended to subscribe to vsnet-alert at the same time). Regards, Taichi Kato On behalf of the VSNET administrator team ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- The following was issued on June. 25, 2001, as VSNET campaign circulation 985. [Note a large part of detailed information is posted to vsnet-campaign sub-lists]. VSNET Weekly Campaign Summary *** Last week news *** (new targets) Nova Sco 2001 (RA = 17h57m06s.98, Dec = -32d23'05".0) = V1178 Sco K. Haseda discovered and reported a possible nova of 10th mag on June 20. The object has already been bright at least since May 13 according to his previous observations. K. Kadota commented that there was no object brighter than mag 14 on a CCD image taken on 2000 Feb. 24. T. Kato reported there is no known variable star at this position and a search on 2MASS and MSX5C catalogs has not revealed any likely counterpart (vsnet-campaign-nova 350). K. Takamizawa's observations revealed the eruption began between April 26 and May 12 (vsnet-campaign-nova 351). K. Kanatsu's observations are also consistent with the above pre-discovery observations (vsnet-campaign-nova 358). On June 21, W. Liller reported a possible H-alpha strong emission line in the low resolution spectrum (vsnet-campaign-nova 353, 354, 355). W. Liller also reported red magnitudes from February to June and short-term oscillations in June 22 observations (vsnet-campaign-nova 357, 360). According to IAUC 7650, this presumable nova has been given a GCVS name of V1178 Sco (vsnet-campaign-nova 364). On June 24, M. Fujii took a spectrum which provides a firm evidence that V1178 Cyg is a genuine nova. The outburst is still ongoing, and the current magnitude is about 10.8mag (vsnet-campaign-nova 356, 365). RS Oph (RA = 17h50m13s.56, Dec = -06d42'30".6) As reported by M. Simonsen on June 24, the recurrent nova RS Oph is relatively bright and active at about 11.0-11.3 (vsnet-campaign-nova 367). SW UMa (RA = 08h36m42s.80, Dec = +53d28'38".2) As reported by P. Schmeer on June 22, SW UMa is now in outburst at 11.6mag (vsnet-campaign-dn 924, 925). J. Gunther reported the bright state remains on 24 June, which indicates the current outburst seems to be a superoutburst (vsnet-campaign-dn 927). The superoutburst is still ongoing and the current magnitude is about 10.5mag (vsnet-campaign-dn 928, 933). VW CrB (RA = 16h00m03s.76, Dec = +33d11'14".4) The SU UMa-type dwarf nova VW CrB is possibly undergoing a superoutburst as reported by M. Simonsen at 14.0mag on June 18 (vsnet-campaign-dn 919). The outburst is still ongoing and the current outburst is probably a genuine superoutburst (vsnet-campaign-dn 923). TK5 Lyr (RA = 19h17m26s.5, Dec = +37d10'41") T. Vanmunster reported an outburst of TK5 Lyr at 15.2mag on June 18 (vsnet-alert 6001). The outburst continues on June 19 (vsnet-campaign-dn 921). mu Cen (RA = 13h49m37s.09, Dec = -42d28'24".7) S. Otero reported a brightening of mu Cen from 3.50mag on June 6 to 3.28mag on June 21 (vsnet-campaign-be 136). W Com (RA = 12h21m31.5s, Dec = +28d13m57.6s) C. Gino reported W Com is rising and R=13.8mag on June 20 (vsnet-campaign-blazar 207). V1028 Cyg (RA = 20h00m52.13s, Dec = +56d56'22.3") As reported by J. Pietz on June 24, the SU UMa-type dwarf nova, V1028 Cyg is in outburst at 15.4mag (vsnet-campaign-dn 926). It has already rapidly faded (vsnet-campaign-dn 930). GX Cas (RA = 00h49m01s.46, Dec = +56d52'44".8) The SU UMa-type dwarf nova, GX Cas is now in outburst at 13.6mag as reported by M. Reszelski on June 24 (vsnet-campaign-dn 931). BC UMa (RA = 11h52m15s.88, Dec = +49d14'42".0) As reported by M. Simonsen on June 25, the SU UMa-type dwarf nova, BC UMa shows an outburst. Although it may be just a normal outburst, the present outburst may be a rare, faint superoutburst (vsnet-campaign 984). The current magnitude is about 13.2mag (vsnet-campaign-dn 932). (continuous targets) IY UMa (RA = 10h43m56s.87, Dec = +58d07'32".5) The superoutburst continues (vsnet-campaign-dn 916, 922, 929). BL Lac (RA = 22h02m42.86s, Dec = +42d16'37.6") The outburst is still continues (vsnet-campaign-blazar 206). QW Ser (RA = 15h26m13s.99, Dec = +08d18'03".8) A rapid fading from the outburst was reported on June 18 (vsnet-campaign-dn 917, 920). V1548 Aql (RA = 19h07m28s.42, Dec = +11d44'45".8) The gradual brightening still continues (vsnet-campaign-nova 352). It may be near the second maximum (vsnet-campaign-nova 363). AL Com (RA = 12h32m25s.90, Dec = +14d20'42".5) The re-brightening is still ongoing (vsnet-campaign-dn 915). (SN?) 2001bn (RA = 14h30m39s.53, Dec = -02d06'00".6) A. Henden reported that the brightness of this possible SN remains at about V=19.7mag, which supports it is not a genuine SN (vsnet-campaign 981). *** Future schedule *** V446 Her campaign until September conducted by Matthias Schreiber, Boris Gaensicke, and Daisaku Nogami As performed during the last summer, they again call for observations of V446 Her to study its peculiar outburst activity, a part of which is indicated from the results during the last summer. The followings are from [vsnet-campaign-dn 918] by D. Nogami "Our aim is again to obtain a *good* contiguous light curve of V446 Her that covers 2-3 outbursts of the system, in order to compare its outburst characteristics to those of ``normal'' dwarf novae. We invite those of you equipped with a CCD camera to obtain a couple of images of V446 Her per night throughout the next four months, say, until the end of September. To get a complete coverage (~5-10 measurements per day), it is crucial that we find collaborators in several continents. The resulting light curve will be published in a refereed journal, including all contributors as co-authors." For more detailed information, see [vsnet-campaign-dn 918], [vsnet-campaign-nova 349], or [vsnet-campaign 983] CV conference at Goettingen, 5-10 August 2001 [vsnet-announce 15, 20] Elizabeth and Frederick White Workshop AGN variability across the Electromagnetic Spectrum 25 - 29 June 2001 Sydney, Australia For more information, see [vsnet-campaign-blazar 168]. Two Years of Science with Chandra * * This meeting will also be the 12th Annual Maryland Astrophysics Conference September 5-7, 2001 For more information, see [vsnet-campaign-xray 66] *** General information *** (SN?) 2001bn sequence presented by A. Henden, see http://ftp.nofs.navy.mil/pub/outgoing/aah/sequence/sn2001bn.dat [vsnet-campaign 981] preprints written by T. Kato: BF Ara IBVS 5119 vsnet-preprint 42 CR Boo IBVS 5120 vsnet-preprint 43 TmzV34 IBVS 5123 vsnet-preprint 46 [vsnet-campaign 982] V446 Her a light curve by the campaign during the last summer. http://alpha.uni-sw.gwdg.de/~mschrei/v446her/light.htm [vsnet-campaign-dn 918] BL Lac a preliminary web page for the BL Lac Campaign 2001 presented by M. Villata, see http://vsnet.to.astro.it/Groups/Extragal/webt/ [vsnet-campaign-blazar 208] Nova Sco 2001 CCD image by G. Masi: http://vsnet.kusastro.kyoto-u.ac.jp/vsnet/Novae/nsco01.html [vsnet-campaign-nova 359] CCD image by A. Giambersio: http://ftp.kusastro.kyoto-u.ac.jp/pub/vsnet/Novae/nova_sco01/novad.jpg [vsnet-campaign-nova 361] Spectrum taken by M. Fujii: http://vsnet1.harenet.ne.jp/~aikow/v1178_0624.gif [vsnet-campaign-nova 366] (This summary can be cited.) Regards, Makoto Uemura