Dear colleagues, As I reported in vsnet-campaign-dn 3455, last night (2003, February 19/20) I was able to monitor KS UMa for 4.6 hours under good conditions, at CBA Belgium Observatory. The resulting light curve (see www.cbabelgium.com) is telling a completely different story compared to yesterday, with strong superhumps being present, and therefore classifying the present outburst as a genuine superoutburst. Using the PDM technique, I derived a superhump period of 0.0719 +/- 0.0010 d. This Psh value is slightly higher than the value of 0.0697 d that I reported in 1998 (CVC 161, vsnet-alert 1448; CVC 162, vsnet-alert 1450), at the moment I detected the UGSU-type nature of KS UMa. D. Nogami (vsnet-alert 1452) then also reported a Psh value of 0.069 d. Follow-up observations are encouraged to precisely determine the Psh value and evolution over time. By the way : it's again a very clear night over Belgium, and KS UMa will be on my 'menu' later tonight. I have lost track counting the number of successive clear nights I'm having now, but this is just fantastic. Must be like doing astronomy from Arizona or New Mexico :-). Kind regards, Tonny Vanmunster CBA Belgium Observatory email : Tonny.Vanmunster@cbabelgium.com website : www.cbabelgium.com
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