Special Notice #303: VLBA and e-MERLIN observations of SS Cyg underway

October 31, 2012:  The cataclysmic variable SS Cyg is beginning to decline from what appears to be a narrow outburst, and was at visual magnitude 9.1 on 2012 October 30, according to observations in the AAVSO International Database.

After being notified of the start of SS Cyg's outburst on 2012 October 26 by Dr. Matthew Templeton (AAVSO), Dr. James Miller-Jones (International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research, Curtin University, Perth, Western Australia) triggered VLBA and e-MERLIN (the UK's VLBI National Radio Astronomy Facility operated by the University of Manchester) observations  of SS Cyg as part of his astrometric campaign on SS Cyg that has been running since August 2011 (see AAVSO Alert Notice 445, AAVSO Special Notice #258, and AAVSO Special Notice #279 for details).

These observations will be the last in his current campaign on SS Cyg. Your observations are a very important part of the campaign, and continued good visual and multicolor coverage throughout the outburst and after return to minimum is requested. CCD time-series are not specifically required for this project.

Coordinates:  RA 21:42:42.79    Dec +43:35:09.9  (J2000.0)

Charts for SS Cyg may be plotted using AAVSO Variable Star Plotter.

Please promptly report all observations to the AAVSO International Database using the name "SS CYG".

This campaign is being followed on the AAVSO Observing Campaigns page. For more information on this project, please see Dr. Miller-Jones' website: http://www.astro.virginia.edu/xrb_jets

This AAVSO Special Notice was compiled by Elizabeth O. Waagen.

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