September 20, 2016 : Dr. Kirill Sokolovsky (National Observatory of Athens and Sternberg Astronomical Institute, Moscow State University), has requested AAVSO assistance in monitoring the ongoing microlensing event Gaia16aye beginning immediately to catch transient behavior occurring now and continuing through the end of October (or until further notice).
Note added September 27, 2016: Dr. Reynolds adds the following: "Visual observations would be useful in setting a baseline and understanding how variable the source is in a relative sense at the time of our HST observation."
September 20, 2016: Dr. Mark Reynolds (University of Michigan) and colleagues have requested AAVSO assistance in monitoring the cataclysmic variable GDS_J1701281-430612 in support of HST/COS observations scheduled for early October.
S. Zola (Jagiellonian University) et al. (ATel #9489) report that the BL Lac object OJ 287 has emerged from conjunction optically very bright and increasing in brightness, according to their observations made at Mt. Suhora Observatory in August and September 2016.
Their observations and recent observations of this blazar in the AAVSO International Database include:
Discovered by:
- Shigehisa Fujikawa (Kan'onji, Kagawa, Japan; reported to CBAT via M. Soma (National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, Mitaka, Tokyo))
- All Sky Automated Survey for SuperNovae (ASAS-SN) (K. Z. Stanek et al., ATel #9469, published September 7; reported to CBAT via L. Chomiuk (Michigan State University))
September 1, 2016: Dr. Christian Knigge (University of Southampton) and colleagues have requested AAVSO coverage of the Z Cam dwarf nova RX And in support of Chandra X-ray observations to be carried out via a Target of Opportunity (TOO) triggering when the system is in a suitable outburst.
August 18, 2016: Dr. Thomas Marsh (University of Warwick) and colleagues have requested AAVSO coverage of the intriguing binary AR Sco in support of upcoming Newton-XMM observations.
The XMM observations of AR Sco have been scheduled for: 2016 September 10 15:41 - September 11 02:26 UT
