VSNET Weekly Campaign Summary *** Last week news *** (new targets) BL Hyi (RA = 01h41m01s.56, Dec = -67d53'22".2) A. Pearce reported the polar BL Hyi brightened to 15.5mag on January 2 (nominal cataloged maximum is 14.9). The object had been always negatively reported (typical limiting magnitude 15.5) since 2000 November (vsnet-campaign 650, 652). TW Pic (RA = 05h34m49s.27, Dec = -58d01'44".3) A. Pearce reported that the intermediate polar or permanent superhumper TW Pic showed a fading to <15.3 on January 2.767. The observation may be somewhat contradicting with B. Monard's observation of 14.9 on January 2.806d. TW Pic is also suggested as a possible VY Scl-type system (Norton et al. 2000, MNRAS 312, 362) (vsnet-campaign 651). A. Pearce's observation shows it became slightly brighter (14.7mag) on January 4 (vsnet-campaign 655). RX J0944.5+0357 (RA = 09h44m31s.8, Dec = +03d58'06") As reported by T. Watanabe on January 4, the ROSAT-selected cataclysmic variable RX J0944.5+0357 was seen first time in outburst (13.2mag). The observation seems to establish its dwarf nova nature. The object has been monitored since 1999 March, yielding no other outburst (typical limiting magnitude 13.5). The CV is listed in New CVs from "The Hamburg/RASS Catalogue of Optical Identifications". The quiescent magnitude is 16.3 (vsnet-campaign 654). The outburst was confirmed by S. Kiyota on January 5 at 14mag. He reported 2.5-hour time-series photometry, which shows small-amplitude irregular fluctuations superimposed on a gradual fading. There was no superhump-like modulation up to an amplitude of 0.1 mag. The object is likely a long-period system, or the outburst is a normal outburst (vsnet-campaign 661). SN 2001A (RA = 12h19m23s.01, Dec = +05d49'40".5) SN 2001A was discovered on January 1.5 UT at mag 18.9 with KAIT, and confirmed on the a half-month previous image at mag 18.4. The position is about 3" west and 11" north of the nucleus of the giant elliptical galaxy NGC 4261. NGC 4261 is well-studied radio galaxy (3C270) in the Virgo cluster. The elliptical galaxies believed to produce SNeIa only, whose maximum magnitude is about mag 14 at this distance (vsnet-campaign-sn 126). SN 2001B (RA = 04h57m19s.24, Dec = +78d11'16".5) SN 2001B was discovered by Beijing team on January 3.61 UT (mag about 15.5) and confirmed on the next day with 0.3 mag brightening. The position is about 6" west and 9" south of the nucleus of the somewhat odd-shaped face-on spiral (SA(s)c) galaxy IC 391. It lies on the midpoint of the southern diffuse arm. The recession velocity of the host galaxy (1556 km/s) suggests that the typical SN Ia without extinction will be mag about 13.3 at its maximum (vsnet-campaign-sn 126). SN 2001C (RA = 06h59m36s.10, Dec = +59d31'01".6) SN 2001C was discovered by T. Puckett and his colleague A. Sehgal on January 4.09 UT at mag 14.7. The location is about 15" east and 6" south of the center of the tilted spiral (Sb) galaxy PGC 19975. The recession velocity of the host galaxy is 3280 km/s, so the expected SN Ia maximum is about mag 14.8 (vsnet-campaign-sn 126). (continuous targets) Possible Nova in Pup (RA = 07h37m56s.88, Dec = -25d56'59".1) G. Masi performed astrometry using CCD images obtained by the Kyoto team, and reported the position of R.A.: 07h 37m 56.88s; Decl.: -25d 56' 59.1" which strongly indicates the USNO 14mag star is a progenitor of the possible nova (vsnet-campaign-nova 106, 119). K. Kadota also reported the position; R.A. = 07h 37m 56.880s Decl.=-25d 56' 58.89" (vsnet-campaign-nova 108, 109). The positions reported by H. Abe, G. Masi and K. Kadota is consistent within their errors, and T. Kato noted that the identity with the 14-th mag USNO star seems to be established (vsnet-campaign-nova 110, 113, 118). A. Henden posted the field photometry on his ftp site (see "General Information") and also reported the results about the possible nova on January 1: RA=07:37:56.87, Dec=-25:56:59.1, V=9.090, B-V=0.564, V-R=0.475, and R-I=0.758 (vsnet-campaign-nova 124). B. Hassforther provided a color image from the 5 available Schmidt-scans (see "General Information") (vsnet-campaign-nova 139). M. Fujii performed spectroscopy on December 31 using a 28-cm reflector which yields spectrum with rich metal emission lines (see "General Information"). He identified prominent emission lines of Fe II (multiplets 19F, 34F, 42, 74) and He I 587.6 nm, while H-beta emission is weak or absent. Fujii suggests that the object is a somewhat peculiar nova (vsnet-campaign-nova 133). W.Liller obtained a low-resolution spectrogram on Jan 3 using a 0.20-m Schmidt. It shows moderately strong narrow emission lines of H-alpha and He I at 5876 A; both are approximately 40% brighter than the neighboring continuum. The Fe II lines reported by M. Fujii also continue strong (vsnet-campaign-nova 133). M. Fujii, K. Ayani, and T. Kato suggested line identifications in [vsnet-campaign-nova 145] in which a number of lines are well identified if the object has a substantial systematic velocity. Y. Nakamura reported prediscovery observations on his patrol films. The object was unseen on his Sep. 26.780 exposure, giving a conservative upper limit of 12.0. It indicates that the major rise of the object took between 2000 September 26 and November 23 in conjunction with K. Haseda's observation (vsnet-campaign-nova 140). Observations on January 3 by some observers indicate there may be a short-lived flare around the observing time (3.553-3.639 UT)(vsnet-campaign-nova 136, 142). G. Masi reported there is no evidence of fluctuations in his two hours run on January 7 (vsnet-campaign 662). RZ Leo (RA = 11h37m22s.27, Dec = +01d48'58".9) Six days of continued intensive coverage of RZ Leo by various CBA stations, has allowed to further secure the superhump period of this system, yielding a value of 0.07862 +- 0.00012 d. Compared with Porb = 0.07604 +- 0.00012 d, this gives a fractional period excess of 3.4 +- 0.2 %. T. Vanmunster commented this is something of a surprise, as most of the infrequently erupting SU UMa CVs have much smaller period excesses, signifying a light secondary (vsnet-campaign 645). R. Ishioka, the Kyoto team, reported the VSNET collaboration data since December 24 yields 0.07854 d, almost constant superhump period (vsnet-campaign-dn 379). T. Kato commented the constant superhump period is rather atypical for SU UMa-type dwarf novae (vsnet-campaign 649). The light curve on January 3 obtained by the Kyoto team and K. Torii shows still prominent superhumps with an amplitude of 0.2 mag. The humps have become broader than before (vsnet-campaign 653). The observations on January 5 (S. Kiyota and the Kyoto team) confirmed that RZ Leo entered the rapidly fading stage (vsnet-campaign 658). T. Kato noted that clear "usual" superhumps persisted (double-wave modulations were not apparent) until the very start of the rapid fading (vsnet-campaign 660). UV Per (RA = 02h10m13s.58, Dec = +57d11'26".8) Preliminary analysis of the data on December 25/26 from D. Buczynski (vsnet-campaign-dn 375) revealed that the observation covered a very crucial part of the early superoutburst. The object was still rapidly fading, just following the trend observed by the Kyoto team. On December 31, the fading rate has become slower, and the object still showed prominent superhumps with an amplitude of 0.2 mag (vsnet-campaign 647). D. Buczynski provided two additional data sets covered the early epoch of superoutburst to VSNET collaboration team (vsnet-campaign-dn 383). The analysis of the January 4 data of the Kyoto team confirmed the rapid fading suggested by visual observations. T. Kato commented that the duration of superoutburst plateau is relatively short in such a rarely outbursting SU UMa-type star (vsnet-campaign 656, 659). G. Masi reported on January 8 that the light curve during the rapid fading phase shows superhumps with a large amplitude of 0.5mag (vsnet-campaign 663, 664). BL Lac (RA = 22h02m42.86s, Dec = +42d16'37.6") The object became fainter. C. P. Jones reported 14.5mag on January 6 (vsnet-campaign-blazar 123). TV Col (RA = 05h29m25s.5, Dec = -32d49'05".2) VSNET collaboration team put the outburst image on the VSNET ftp site (see "General Information") (vsnet-campaign-ip 28). The object again experienced an outburst (12.8mag) on January 7 as reported by B. Monard (vsnet-campaign-ip 29). M. Uemura, the Kyoto team, reported the outburst seemed to be terminated on January 8.6 (vsnet-campaign-ip 31). 3C 66A (RA = 02h22m39s.6, Dec = +43d02'08") The bright state still continues. The current magnitude seems to be about 14.0mag (vsnet-campaign-blazar 122). Delta Sco (RA = 16h00m19s.9, Dec = -22d37'17") The bright state continues. During the last week, observations of 1.9 - 2.0 mag were reported (vsnet-campaign-be 75, 76). V803 Cen (RA = 13h23m44.5s, Dec = -41d44'30".1) Observations on January 3 indicates V803 Cen is active with oscillations (vsnet-campaign-dn 384). On January 4, A. Pearce reported the bright (12.8mag) outburst (vsnet-campaign-dn 387). The outburst is still continues (vsnet-campaign-dn 390). *** Future schedule *** TV Col campaign conducted by A. Retter (2001 January 2 - 15): "Recently using previously published data, we discovered evidence for another periodicity in the light curve of TV Col. The 6.4-h period would be the longest recorded positive superhump. To confirm this period, I'll carry out continuous photometry on TV Col during two weeks in January (2-15) using the 0.75-m reflector with the UCT CCD in Sutherland, South Africa. I am calling for a campaign on TV Col during these nights. As the candidate periodicity is relatively long, multi-longitude continuous monitoring of the object is extremely important to reduce the aliasing problem. So, if you can observe the object for at least ~4 h (preferably more than one 6.4-h cycle), please let me know." for more information, see [vsnet-campaign 579],[vsnet-campaign-ip 15] *** General information *** Possible Nova Pup 2000 Field photometry by A. Henden: http://ftp.nofs.navy.mil/pub/outgoing/aah/sequence/npup00.dat [vsnet-campaign-nova 124] Spectrum taken by M. Fujii: http://vsnet1.harenet.ne.jp/~aikow/p_n_p.gif. [vsnet-campaign-nova 133] Color image provided by B. Hassforther: http://members.aol.com/bela1996/nova-pup-2000.jpg [vsnet-campaign-nova 139] RZ Leo Superhump light curve by the VSNET collaboration team: http://vsnet.kusastro.kyoto-u.ac.jp/vsnet/DNe/rzleo.html [vsnet-campaign 657] TV Col CCD image during outbust by VSNET collaboration team: http://ftp.kusastro.kyoto-u.ac.jp/pub/vsnet/CVs/TV_Col/001224.gif [vsnet-campaign-ip] Eclipse ephemeris, see [vsnet-campaign-ip 30] (This summary is reproduction free.) Regards, Makoto Uemura