[Aavso-photometry] [AAVSO-DIS] Sky and Tel Blurb

[arne]

Steven Orlando wrote:
> Hello All!
> 
> I just received my latest Sky and Tel magazine. 
> 
> There is a blurb about a variable star in Lyr (I think V-Lyr) that is brightening. Anyone know anything about this star. It is certainly an easy star to observe right now, since I live in New York.
> 
I think what you are referring to is in the October issue of S&T
in the Alan MacRobert "Celestial Calendar" column (page 67).
This is W Lyr, reaching V=7.9 in mid-October, so a nice binocular
magnitude.  At minimum, it is below V=12.

Other than being nicely placed, it is a pretty generic Mira with
period 198 days, with a sinusoidal light curve as shown with the light
curve generator.  Matt's paper (2005AJ....130..776T) does not
indicate any secular change in the period.  It has a pretty decent
sequence, though more comparisons to cover minimum would be useful,
and the maximum needs a brighter star.

It is encouraging to see that Brian Skiff's sequence, given on the
2004 chart, matches closely the TASS magnitudes for that sequence
as currently available in VSP.  However, the sequence that Alan shows
on the S&T chart disagrees considerably and so should *not* be used
for reporting.  For example, the VSP 100 star is shown on Alan's
chart as 94; the 92 star is given as 88, etc.  I don't know where
he got that information.
Arne