October 20, 2015:The AAVSO requests time-series observations of the enigmatic variable object KIC 8462852 beginning immediately and continuing through at least the end of the current observing season. The star is relatively bright (V=11.88) and shows aperiodic dips of a few tenths of a magnitude, the causes of which are unknown. The object is not known to be a close binary or a young stellar object, and there are no other typical indicators of circumstellar material such as infrared emission.
Discovery magnitude:
- Nishiyama and Kabashima: 11.8 unfiltered (CCD, using a 135-mm f/4 camera lens (+FLI 09000 camera))
- Fujikawa: 12.1 unfiltered (CCD using a MINOLTA F 3.5 f 120mm lens)
October 1, 2015: Dr. George Wallerstein (University of Washington) has requested AAVSO assistance in monitoring 5 variable stars in Cygnus now through December 2015. He is working to complete the radial velocity curves for these stars, and needs optical light curves for correlation with the spectra he will be obtaining.
Discovery magnitude:
- Itagaki: 9.9 U (CCD, using a 180-mm focal length camera lens)
- Takao: 10.5 U
- Nakamura: magnitude not reported (135-mm focal length camera lens)
August 26, 2015: Roque Ruiz-Carmona (Ph.D. candidate, Institute of Mathematics, Astrophysics and Particle Physics, Radboud University Nijmegen, The Netherlands) has requested AAVSO assistance with his campaign to observe (a new set of) 17 cataclysmic variables (CVs) with the William Herschel Telescope (WHT) next week.
August 20, 2015: Prof. Simon Jeffery (Armagh Observatory; Trinity College Dublin) has requested photometric monitoring of the pulsating helium and zirconium-rich hot subdwarf LS IV -14 116 in support of upcoming HST and VLT/UVES spectroscopy. AAVSO observations will supplement photometry due to be obtained with the SAAO 1.0-m and IAC 0.8-m telescopes from 18 August to 2 September 2015. Photometry is requested beginning immediately through 2 September.
July 16, 2015: Roque Ruiz-Carmona (Ph.D. candidate, Institute of Mathematics, Astrophysics and Particle Physics, Radboud University Nijmegen, The Netherlands) has requested AAVSO assistance with his campaign to observe 17 cataclysmic variables (CVs) with the William Herschel Telescope (WHT) next week.
July 1, 2015: In AAVSO Alert Notice 522 on the upcoming observations of the black hole X-ray binary V404 Cyg by HST, the date of the detection by the Swift satellite was incorrectly given as 2015 June 16.77197 UT (Barthelmy et al., GCN Circular 17929). The correct date is 2015 June 15.77197 UT.
Correction: In the text below, the date of the detection by the Swift satellite was incorrectly given as 2015 June 16.77197 UT. The correct date is 2015 June 15.77197 UT.
