News and Announcements

Our two new CHOICE courses begin today. There is still time to register just under the wire! 

"Visual Observing Basics" and "CCD Photometry, Part One" will both will run March 18 through April 12, 2013.  Visit the CHOICE homepage for more details and the registration link!

The February 2013 Solar Bulletin is now available.

March 8, 2013:  Dr. Boris Gaensicke (Warwick University) has requested observations of the currently-outbursting SU UMa-type cataclysmic variable MR UMa in preparation for and support of HST observations scheduled for the week 2013 April 4-7.

February 28, 2013:  Further to AAVSO Alert Notice 471 (http://www.aavso.org/aavso-alert-notice-471) and AAVSO Special Notice #338 (http://www.aavso.org/aavso-special-notice-338), HST/COS is scheduled to observe V406 Vir (SDSS J123813.73-033932.9) tomorrow:

           V406 Vir 2013 March 1 08:37:30 through 14:04:33 UT

The Astronomical Society of the Pacific (ASP) will hold its 125th Annual Meeting on "Ensuring STEM Literacy" in San Jose, CA from July 20 to July 24, 2013.  Early bird registration has begun and abstracts are currently being accepted.  Please visit the ASP meeting page for more information.

February 21, 2013: Further to AAVSO Alert Notice 471 (http://www.aavso.org/aavso-alert-notice-471) and AAVSO Special Notice #336 (http://www.aavso.org/aavso-special-notice-336), HST/COS is scheduled to observe HM Leo tomorrow:

    HM Leo  2013 February 22 07:17:20 through 14:22:37 UT
 

February 17, 2013

Event: Supernova 2013aa in NGC 5643 = PSN J14323388-4413278

Discovered by: Stuart Parker (Canterbury, New Zealand)

Discovery Date: 2013 Feb. 13.621 UT

Discovery Magnitude: red mag 11.9 on a 30-s unfiltered CCD image taken with a 30-cm Astro-Tech AT12RC Ritchey-Chretien astrograph (+ ST10 camera) at his Parkdale Observatory in the course of the Backyard Observatory Supernova Search (BOSS)

February 15, 2013: As noted by Alexandre Amorim in the AAVSO Forums, a bright transient has appeared in the fringes of the face-on spiral galaxy NGC 5643, and has been published on the Transient Objects Confirmation Page at Harvard.

February 12, 2013: The coordinates issued with AAVSO Special Notice #334 (http://www.aavso.org/aavso-special-notice-334) were incorrect; they were taken from an article by Robertson et al. (2000AJ....119.1365R).

The correct coordinates for GR Ori are:

     R.A. 05 21 34.98  Dec +01 10 10.2  (2000.0)

The webpage version of AAVSO Special Notice #334 has been updated with these coordinates.

February 6, 2013: According to photometry provided by Don Collins (CDK, Swannanoa, NC), the eclipse in the b Per system (HD 26961), predicted for around 2013 January 25, is underway now and began February 4-5. Photometry - multicolor if possible - is urgently needed now to cover the rest of this eclipse, which may last for up to four days altogether, and see post-eclipse behavior of the system.

When searching for a star in the International Variable Star Index (VSX) or reporting observations to the AAVSO International Database via WebObs, it is not possible to enter a Greek letter if the star has a Greek letter as part of its name – one cannot search for “µ Cep” or “ν Pav”. There has been ongoing confusion about how to spell out some of the Greek letters used in star names, and in particular about how to spell out µ and ν.

February 2, 2013:  Further to AAVSO Alert Notice 471 (http://www.aavso.org/aavso-alert-notice-471), the next HST/COS target is the SU UMa-type dwarf nova IR Com. HST/COS observations are scheduled for:

     IR Com   2013 February 8 00:38:46 through 05:57:49 UT