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Alert Notice 456: Monitoring of V854 Cen Requested

April 4, 2012: Bram Ochsendorf (Leiden Observatory, Netherlands) has requested monitoring by AAVSO observers of the R CrB variable V854 Cen in support of observations to be made using the XSHOOTER instrument on the Very Large Telescope (VLT) of the European Southern Observatory's La Silla Paranal Observatory in Chile. Ochsendorf and colleagues have already observed V854 Cen at maximum and now need to observe it during a fading episode.

Online Talk w/Sky & Telescope Editor Bob Naeye

April 6, 2012 Update: The talk is over and went very well. We had a max of around 22 participants and the interaction with Bob was very informative. We attempted to record the talk using the built-in recording feature of the webinar software we are using (GoToWebinar by Citrix). It created a Windows Media Video (.wmv) file that plays correctly on a few Windows computers we tested on. However, when we tested it on OS X machines using a wide variety of video players we could never get it to fully work. We also attempted to upload it to YouTube and their software rejected the format as well. So we can't promise it will work on all computers. We are investigating alternatives for recording future webinars.

Click here to download a recording of the talk (170MB WMV file).

(There is some technical chit chat at the beginning - you may want to skip 5-10 minutes into the recording for the good stuff)

 

Special Notice #273: Possible Nova in Ophiuchus = PNV J17260708-2551454 [V2676 Oph]

March 28, 2012:  A possible nova in Ophiuchus [V2676 Oph] was announced on the IAU CBAT Transient Objects Confirmation Page (TOCP) page with the name PNV J17260708-2551454. It was discovered by H. Nishimura (Shizuoka-ken, Japan) at unfiltered magnitude 12.1 on 2012 March 25.789 UT on three frames using Canon 200-mm f/3.2 lens + Canon EOS 5D Digital Camera. Spectra suggest that the object is an Fe II-type classical nova.

Coordinates: 17 26 07.01  -25 51 42.69 (J2000.0)

Special Notice #272: Possible Nova in Centaurus = PNV J13410800-5815470 [V1368 Cen]

28 March 2012:  A possible nova in Centaurus was announced on the IAU CBAT Transient Objects Confirmation Page (TOCP) page with the name PNV J13410800-5815470 [V1368 Cen]. It was discovered by John Seach (Chatsworth Island, NSW, Australia) at magnitude 9.2 on 2012 March 23.386 UT using a DSLR with 50 mm f/1.0 lens. Spectra indicate that the object is a classical nova.

Nothing was seen by him down to magnitude 11.0 on his survey images taken on 2012 Mar. 16.396 UT.

Special Notice #271: Correction to AAVSO Special Notice #270

March 27, 2012:  In the email version of AAVSO Special Notice #270 (Possible Recurrent Nova in the LMC = TCP J04550000-7027150), the discovery magnitude was given as U=10.7. It should have been given as unfiltered magnitude 10.7.

We extend our apologies for the error.

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

Special Notice #270: Possible Recurrent Nova in the LMC = TCP J04550000-7027150 [Nova LMC 2012]

March 27, 2012:  A possible nova in the LMC [Nova LMC 2012] discovered at unfiltered magnitude 10.7 on 2012 March 26.397 UT (name of discoverer not given) was reported on the IAU CBAT Transient Objects Confirmation Page (TOCP). Spectra indicate the object may be a recurrent nova.

J. Hambsch reports that as of March 28.04 UT, the object appears to be fading fast and is at least one magnitude fainter than 24 hours ago.

Coordinates (2000.0):

Special Notice #268: Chandra observations scheduled for CH Cyg and monitoring urgently needed

23 March 2012: The Chandra X-ray satellite observations of the symbiotic variable CH Cyg have been scheduled as part of Dr. Margarita Karovska's (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics) campaign. Please see AAVSO Alert Notice 454 and AAVSO Special Notice #267 for complete details on this observing campaign. The HST observations of CH Cyg have already been made.
 

Alert Notice 455: V834 CAR = Nova Car 2012 = TCP J10502000-6406480

March 16, 2012: V834 CAR = Nova Car 2012 = TCP J10502000-6406480

Discovered by: John Seach, Chatsworth Island, NSW, Australia

Discovery Magnitude: 10.2 on 3 images with digital SLR, 50 mm f/1.0 lens

Discovery date: 2012 February 26.543 UT

Coordinates: RA 10 50 19.66  Dec. -64 06 46.7 (J2000.0)
Coordinates from A. Oksanen and C. Harlingten (see Note b).