Web Publications

            THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF VARIABLE STAR OBSERVERS
                  25 Birch Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 USA
                        aavso@aavso.org
                  Tel. 617-354-0484       Fax 617-354-0665

AAVSO ALERT NOTICE 319 (June 22, 2005)

SUBJECTS:
1. REQUEST TO MONITOR THE CV SDSS161033 (1605-00) FOR HST OBSERVATIONS
2. TU CAS COMPARISON STARS

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Editor's Note: We have released many new charts in the last couple of weeks to support the recent Alert Notices. We'd like to take a moment to thank Dan Taylor, Bruce Sumner, Marc Biesmans and the AAVSO Chart Team for checking these charts in a timely fashion so we could get them out to you quickly.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. REQUEST TO MONITOR THE CV SDSS161033 (1605-00) FOR HST OBSERVATIONS

Dr. Paula Szkody (University of Washington) has requested our help in monitoring SDSS J161033 for upcoming Hubble Space Telescope observations. This is a similar campaign to the one recently run on SDSS J2205 and SDSS J013132 (CCD Views #336; Alert Notice #318). Thanks to Patrick Schmeer (SPK) for sending observations for the last campaign!

SDSS J161033 is at R.A. = 16:10:33.6 Dec. = -01:02:24 (2000).

This is a suspected UGWZ dwarf nova discovered by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) with a quiescent magnitude of around V=19. It has never been observed in outburst and is not expected to be in outburst on this date. However, if it *is* in outburst then its brightness could damage the ACS instrument on HST. As a result, the HST mission planners want to be absolutely sure that SDSS J161033 is not in outburst immediately prior to the scheduled observation. The HST observations are scheduled to begin at June 30 18:51 (UT).

We are requesting V filtered observations of this field each night from June 24th-July 1st (UT). We are making an unusual request in that we are asking for the FITS images themselves to be uploaded to the AAVSO's FTP site. So please follow these procedures:

1. Observe SDSS J161033 once daily on June 24-June 30 (UT). Set your exposure to go at least as faint as 16th mag for S/N=3.
2. Submit your estimate to the AAVSO as "SDSS161033" (AAVSO Desig.: 1605-00).
3. Send the final, calibrated (stacked if neccessary) FITS image to the AAVSO via FTP:

   host: ftp.aavso.org
   user: sdss
   password: sdss

** IT IS IMPORTANT THAT YOU SEND THE FITS IMAGE!! **
We cannot forward your observation to the HST planning staff without a FITS image associated with it. We recommend that you also submit a full AAVSO observation on the object because that is the only way to ensure that we have all the data the scientists may need (comp star, date (UT), etc.). We had a number of observations made of SDSS J2205 that were not sent in the correct format or without uploaded FITS files.

An f-scale chart is available at: http://www.aavso.org/cgi-bin/searchcharts3.pl?name=SDSS161033 [4]

The AAVSO Chat Room will be open for the project.

This is last of three objects in this program. Congratulations!

This campaign will be coordinated by A. Price (aaronp@aavso.org).
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3. TU CAS COMPARISON STARS

In Alert Notice #318 we did not specifically mention which stars on the TU Cas PEP chart should be used as comparison and check stars. Also, there was an error on the chart regarding the location of the "83" comparison star. We have placed online a corrected TU Cas PEP chart. Also on that new chart is a new "89" comparison star. Please use the "89" and the "74" stars as your comparison and check stars, respectively. The chart can be downloaded at this URL: http://www.aavso.org/cgi-bin/searchcharts3.pl?name=tu%20cas [5]

This campaign will be coordinated by A. Henden (arne@aavso.org).

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This Alert Notice was prepared by: A. Price.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SUBMIT OBSERVATIONS TO THE AAVSO

We encourage observers to submit observations via our web site (online data submission tool WebObs), or by email in AAVSO format to observations@aavso.org. If you do not have AAVSO Observer Initials, please fill out the following URL so we may assign them to you.

http://www.aavso.org/observing/submit/apply.shtml [6]

The answering machine at AAVSO Headquarters is on nights and weekends; use our charge-free number (888-802-STAR = 888-802-7827) to report your observations, or report them via fax (617-354-0665).

ALERT NOTICE ARCHIVE AND SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION

An Alert Notice archive is available at the following URL:
http://www.aavso.org/publications/alerts/ [7]

Subscribing and Unsubscribing can be done at the following URL:
http://www.aavso.org/publications/email/ [8]

Many thanks for your valuable astronomical contributions and your efforts.

Good observing!