photometry

The Trapezium, BM Orionis, and Young Stellar Objects

Just over one year ago, a small spacecraft called MOST began a month-long observing run on one of the most spectacular objects in Earth's skies, the beautiful Trapezium region at the heart of the Orion Nebula, M42.  My collaborators and I applied for and received this observing time to survey variability in this young stellar cluster -- partly to study the eclipsing binary BM Ori (theta 01 Orionis B), but also to survey as many young stars that we were able to using the unique capabilities of MOST.  Since then, I along with my collaborators -- our Director Arne H

Special Notice #265: Bright Symbiotics in Sgr, Cyg, and Oph

March 3, 2012: Observer S. O'Connor reported late last week that the symbiotic stars V4018 Sgr, CH Cyg, and V2523 Oph all appeared to be in outburst or brighter than normal.  He reports: V4018 Sgr at V=11.59 on JD 2455981.021 (2012 Feb 23.521); CH Cyg at V=7.30 on 2455982.976 (Feb 25.476); and V2523 Oph at V=11.67 on 2455981.0 (Feb 23.5).  Other more recent visual observations of CH Cyg by G. Holmberg (vis=7.6 on 2455983.4993) and D. Barrett (vis=7.4 on 2455985.6013) confirm the star is well above magnitude 8.0 at this time.

Special Notice #256: Request for fast optical time series of SN 2011fe

September 16, 2011: Dr. Bradley Schaefer (LSU) requests fast time series of SN 2011fe over the next several weeks to attempt the detection of fast optical variations in supernova light.

The following request was prepared by Dr. Schaefer which we forward at his request: