VSNET Weekly Campaign Summary *** Last week news *** (new targets) V4641 Sgr (RA = 18h19m21s.6, Dec = -25d24'25") R. Stubbings reported that the microquasar V4641 Sgr experienced a brightening to 12.1mag on August 1 (vsnet-campaign-v4641sgr 175, vsnet-campaign-xray 243). He reported that the object once dropped back to a faint state 2.6-hour after the brightening (vsnet-campaign-v4641sgr 178, vsnet-campaign-xray 245). C. Bailyn reported that it was slightly brighter than the normal state on August 1 (vsnet-campaign-v4641sgr 181, vsnet-campaign-xray 247). J. Swank reported that no X-ray brightening was detected on July 29 (vsnet-campaign-v4641sgr 177, vsnet-campaign-xray 244). D. Rupen reported that no radio activity was detected on July 31 (vsnet-campaign-v4641sgr 176). On August 2 and 3, it was still at a relatively faint, normal state (vsnet-campaign-v4641sgr 180, 182, vsnet-campaign-xray 248). D. Maitra reported that a new outburst (V=12.6) was detected on August 4 (vsnet-campaign-xray 249, 251, vsnet-campaign-v4641sgr 183, 185). B. Monard observed short-term fluctuations with time scales of a few minutes to an hour on August 4 (vsnet-campaign-v4641sgr 184, vsnet-campaign-xray 250). The light curve is characterized by recurrent occurrences of gradual rise (with violent fluctuations) and a sudden drop. The light curve, as a whole, resembles those of violently varying state just after the beginning of the 2002 active phase (vsnet-campaign-xray 252, vsnet-campaign-v4641sgr 186, 187). The object was still bright on August 5 (vsnet-campaign-v4641sgr 189). C. Bailyn reported that, on August 6, the source was in a highly active flaring state in the X-ray range, with flares of up to 100 mCrabs erupting on timescale of 10-30 seconds. Flares and dips of several tenths of a magnitude were also observed in the optical range on timescales of <3 minutes (vsnet-campaign-v4641sgr 192, vsnet-campaign-xray 253). The 100-sec time-scale variations were also reported by M. Uemura (vsnet-campaign-v4641sgr 194). On August 6, there was an apparent "optical flash", which is similar to the event observed on 2002 July 7 (vsnet-campaign-v4641sgr 198). I. Khamitov reported that the power spectrum of the optical variations could be described by a power law with the slope -1.8 in the frequency band 1e-4 - 0.04 Hz (vsnet-campaign-v4641sgr 197). The object started fading on August 7. During the fading phase, ~1-mag flares were observed (vsnet-campaign-v4641sgr 200, 204). These behavior just before the maximum is quite analogous to that observed during the last active state in 2002 (vsnet-campaign-v4641sgr 208). The object now remains at (temporary?) faint state. Close monitoring is still encouraged (vsnet-campaign-v4641sgr 179, 193, 202, 203, 207). SN 2003gs (RA = 02h27m38s.36, Dec = -01d09'35".4) As reported on IAUC 8171, R. Evans visually discovered a bright supernova, SN 2003gs, in NGC 936. The discovery magnitude was mag 14.0 on July 29.75 UT, and confirmed at visual mag 13.8 on the following night (July 30.75 UT). The position of new object is about 13" east and 15" south of the center of NGC 936, a barred-spiral galaxy. The CTIO spectrum taken on July 30.4 revealed that it was type Ia supernova, about a week after maximum light (vsnet-campaign-sn 663, 664, 665). SN 2003gr (RA = 23h38m12s.67, Dec = -20d46'56".0) SN 2003gr is hosted by MCG -04-55-14, a barred-spiral galaxy. The expected maximum for typical SN Ia is consistent with the discovery magnitude (16.3-16.4 mag). SN 2003gt (RA = 20h32m59s.12, Dec = +09d52'19".3) SN 2003gt is hosted by NGC 6930, a nearly edge-on barred-spiral galaxy. The expected maximum for typical SN Ia is mag about 16.0 (vsnet-campaign-sn 665). A spectrum taken by the UCB team on Aug. 5 UT revealed that it was indeed a type Ia SN near maximum (vsnet-campaign-sn 667). AY Lac (RA = 22h22m23s.3, Dec = +50d23'29") According to IBVS No. 5441, Kroll et al. concluded that AY Lac is most likely a cataclysmic variable, by confirming the outburst detection on the archival plates. They suggested that the object may be either a recurrent nova or a WZ Sge-like object (vsnet-campaign-dn 3881). SN 2003gu (RA = 23h02m59s.45, Dec = +34d43'19".6) SN 2003gu is hosted by UGC 12331, a dim spiral galaxy. The expected maximum for typical SN Ia is mag about 16.3 (vsnet-campaign-sn 666). The UCB team revealed that it was a young type II (possibly type IIb) supernova, based on a spectrum taken on Aug. 5 UT (vsnet-campaign-sn 667). SN 2003gv (RA = 01h08m53s.18, Dec = +32d05'59".3) SN 2003gv is hosted by MCG +05-3-66, an apparent spiral galaxy. The expected maximum for typical SN Ia is mag about 17.5 (vsnet-campaign-sn 667). SN 2003gw (RA = 05h11m47s.68, Dec = +67d29'22".2) SN 2003gw is hosted by UGC 3252, a face-on open spiral galaxy. The expected maximum for typical SN Ia is mag about 16.6 (vsnet-campaign-sn 668). SAX J2103.5+4545 (RA = 21h03m35s.74, Dec = +45d45'05".6) According to ATEL #173, Reig and Mavromatakis report that a GSC star with 13.04mag (GSC3588.834) is probably identified with the transient X-ray pulsar SAX J2103.5+4545. The object is likely a Be/X-ray binary (vsnet-campaign-xray 255). SN 2003gx (RA = 01h02m55s.09, Dec = +37d40'10".3) SN 2003gx is hosted by MCG +6-3-7, a faint spiral galaxy. The expected maximum for typical SN Ia is mag about 17.5 (vsnet-campaign-sn 669). SU Tau (RA = 05h49m03s.7, Dec = +19d04'21") The observation by J. Gunther on August 9 indicates a onset of a fading (vsnet-campaign-rcb 147). (continuous targets) V660 Her (RA = 17h42m07s.3, Dec = +23d47'37".3) P. A. Dubovsky reported an outburst (14.6mag) of the SU UMa-type dwarf nova V660 Her on July 27. The outburst seems to have been confirmed by Dan Taylor (vsnet-campaign-dn 3880). D. Nogami has informed that V660 Her was fainter than Rc=16.6 on July 31. The outburst seems to be a short outburst (vsnet-campaign-dn 3883). SN 2003gn (RA = 22h33m51s.68, Dec = +20d48'08".5) The UCB group (Jul. 27 UT) and the CfA group (Jul. 29.37 UT) showed that it was type Ia SN near maximum (vsnet-campaign-sn 662). SN 2003go (RA = 19h52m47s.68, Dec = -19d11'28".2) A Baade spectrum of SN 2003go taken on July 30.30 UT showed that it is type IIn SN. It seems to be somewhat further than ESO 595-G001 (vsnet-campaign-sn 668). VW CrB (RA = 16h00m03s.76, Dec = +33d11'14".4) From the data received by the VSNET Collaboration up to July 31, T. Kato reported the best superhump period to be 0.07272(2) d. This value is significantly shorter than the literature value (Novak 1997, IBVS 4489) (vsnet-campaign-dn 3882, 3884). SN 2003gp (RA = 16h03m55s.47, Dec = +25d00'24".8) The UCB group (Jul. 27) confirmed that it was a young type II SN (vsnet-campaign-sn 662). SN 2003gq (RA = 22h53m20s.68, Dec = +32d07'57".6) The UCB team (Jul. 27) showed that it was type Ia SN near or slightly before maximum; they quote that it resembles that of peculiar (bright) SN Ia 1991T (vsnet-campaign-sn 662). V2051 Oph (RA = 17h08m19.1s, Dec = -25d48'31".1) The object experienced a relatively bright (13.8mag) outburst on August 1 (vsnet-campaign-v2051oph 47). RS Oph (RA = 17h50m13s.56, Dec = -06d42'30".6) I. Bryukhanov reported an outburst of RS Oph in 1958 July recorded in the Odessa photograph collection (vsnet-campaign-nova 1357). *** Future schedule *** International Conference "Interacting Binary Stars-2003" Odessa, Ukraine, August 18-22, 2003 http://oap16.pochta.ru Contact address: Prof. Ivan L.Andronov, oap16@pochta.ru X-Ray Timing 2003: Rossi and Beyond November 3-5, 2003 Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics http://hea-www.harvard.edu/xrt2003/ [vsnet-campaign-xray 242] AR UMa and AM Her campaign with the HST TOO program conducted by S. Saar and F. Ringwald see [vsnet-campaign-polar 24] WEBT Campaign for AO 0235+16 with XMM-Newton January-February 2004 please contact to Claudia M. Raiteri, see [vsnet-campaign-blazar 301] Multiwavelength AGN Surveys a "Guillermo Haro" Astrophysics Conference organized by INAOE December 8-12, 2003 Cozumel, Mexico http://vsnet.inaoep.mx/~agn2003/ [vsnet-campaign-agn 4] IM Nor Campaign by I. Hachisu (University of Tokyo) and the VSNET team For more information, see [vsnet-campaign-nova 1241] GRB Mini-Symposium in JENAM2003 For more information, http://vsnet.konkoly.hu/jenam03/ [vsnet-campaign-grb 31] Conference: THE INTERPLAY AMONG BLACK HOLES, STARS AND ISM IN GALACTIC NUCLEI in Gramado, south of Brasil, March 1-5, 2004 for more information, please contact to BHSIGN@if.ufrgs.br [vsnet-campaign-agn 3] eta Car: The next "shell event"/X-ray eclipse M. Corcoran reported the event will occur this summer. Coordinated ground-based observations of eta car along with the X-ray observations would be really important. For more information: Latest X-ray light curve: http://lheawww.gsfc.nasa.gov/users/corcoran/eta_car/etacar_rxte_lightcurve/ [vsnet-campaign-sdor 23, 24, 25, 26, 28, 29, 46] [vsnet-campaign-xray 172] Light curve provided by S. Otero: http://ar.geocities.com/varsao/Curva_Eta_Carinae.htm [vsnet-campaign-sdor 22, 32, 33] The 2003 Gamma Ray Burst conference Hosted by Los Alamos, in Santa Fe, New Mexico (USA), between September 8 and 12, 2003 http://grb2003.lanl.gov/ [vsnet-campaign-grb 13] *** General information *** V4641 Sgr VSNET page: http://vsnet.kusastro.kyoto-u.ac.jp/vsnet/Xray/v4641sgr03.html [vsnet-campaign-v4641sgr 188, 190, 191, 199, 201] M. Rupen's observation schedule page: http://vsnet.aoc.nrao.edu/~mrupen/XRT/V4641Sgr/v4641sgr.shtml [vsnet-campaign-v4641sgr 196, vsnet-campaign-xray 254] T. Scarmato's page: http://toniscarmato.interfree.it/sgrv4641.htm [vsnet-campaign-v4641sgr 206] Preprint by Uemura, et al. in astro-ph/0308154 [vsnet-campaign-v4641sgr 205] V4743 Sgr Preprint by J.-U. Ness, et al. in astro-ph/0308017 [vsnet-campaign-nova 1356] V Sge Preprint by I. Hachisu and M. Kato in astro-ph/0308065 [vsnet-campaign-nl 135] NMO Digest for August: see [vsnet-campaign-mira 69, 70] (This summary can be cited.) Regards, Makoto Uemura
vsnet-adm@kusastro.kyoto-u.ac.jp