AL Com outburst, most recent data As already reported, the WZ Sge-type dwarf nova AL Com is undergoing an extremely rare outburst (likely superoutburst)! The last outburst was in 1995 April, when an extensive VSNET campaign yielded a very fruitful result. The VSNET Collaboration team has already started another extensive campaign, which has most likely covered the early rise to maximum, which was not observed in 1995! Happy observing, and please report your progress to vsnet-campaign-dn, important detections to vsnet-alert and vsnet-campaign. Raw data should be sent to the campaign coordinator, R. Ishioka (ishioka@kusastro.kyoto-u.ac.jp) or to vsnet-campaign-data. The object may brighten further, and will be an excellent target for long time-series CCD photometry with small telescopes. Spectroscopy with large telescopes to catch the signal of the secondary star, or the structure in the accretion disk, is also highly encouraged. This message is also sent to the supernova group, since AL Com is located close to M88, and was initially discovered as a possible supernova. see: http://vsnet.kusastro.kyoto-u.ac.jp/vsnet/DNe/alcom1.html (this URL only provides likes to the messages in 1995, but will be useful in determining the strategy on the current outburst). related papers: http://ftp.kusastro.kyoto-u.ac.jp/pub/vsnet/preprints/AL_Com/ http://ftp.kusastro.kyoto-u.ac.jp/pub/vsnet/preprints/AL_Com-2/ YYYYMMDD(UT) mag observer 20010509.962 <154 (M. Reszelski) 20010511.922 <139 (E. Muyllaert) 20010511.940 <139 (H. McGee) 20010512.917 <154 (M. Reszelski) 20010512.928 <139 (E. Muyllaert) 20010512.955 <139 (H. McGee) 20010512.960 <155 (C. P. Jones) 20010513.017 <155 (G. Poyner) 20010513.235 <139 (M. Simonsen) 20010513.410 <135 (R. Stubbings) 20010513.501 <139 (H. Itoh) 20010513.939 <148 (P. A. Dubovsky) 20010514.481 <135 (R. Stubbings) 20010514.867 <154 (M. Reszelski) 20010514.887 <148 (P. A. Dubovsky) 20010515.515 <135 (R. Stubbings) 20010516.887 <154 (M. Reszelski) 20010516.917 <139 (E. Muyllaert) 20010516.921 <148 (P. A. Dubovsky) 20010516.965 <155 (G. Poyner) 20010517.898 <154 (M. Reszelski) 20010518.510 134 (S. Kerr) 20010518.882 129 (E. Muyllaert) 20010518.902 128 (C. P. Jones) Regards, VSNET Collaboration team