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            THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF VARIABLE STAR OBSERVERS            
                 25 Birch Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 USA
                 Tel. 617-354-0484       Fax 617-354-0665
                          http://www.aavso.org
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                             C C D   V I E W S   #320
                            --------------------------
                                 June 23, 2004

 THIS IS A SPECIAL EDITION OF CCD VIEWS.
             
 Table of Contents
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 1. Var Her 04 - A New Cataclysmic Variable

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 1. VAR HER 04 - A NEW CATACLYSMIC VARIABLE

 Yesterday the AAVSO issued Alert Notice #306 which included an
announcement of a possible new variable in Hercules.  Lew Cook (COO) has
submitted a brief run on Var Her 04 last night with some interesting data.
A period of around 0.056 +/- 0.002 days (80.6 +/- 2.9 minutes) is detected
with a semiamplitude of 0.028 +/- 0.004. Prominent eclipses of around 0.04
magnitude are also visible. A light curve of his data is at the URL below:

http://www.aavso.org/news/varher04lc.png

 A spectrogram taken with the F. L. Whipple Obs. telescope on Mt.  Hopkins
confirms it is a cataclysmic variable. The period is very close to the 
period minimum at 78 minutes. This object could be a relatively rare member 
of the AM CVN class or of the WZ Sge class with very rare outbursts. 
Careful analysis of time series data during the entire outburst will help 
narrow down the options. If it is a WZ Sge, for example, then a change in 
the period should occur around 12 days after the outburst. But we don't 
know exactly when the outburst began, only that it was before June 13.6 UT. 
So this shift could happen at any time!

 Please observe this object as long as possible and with as high precision
as possible. Go unfiltered if you need to and submit the observations to 
the AAVSO as soon as possible. 

 Charts with B-V field calibration from Bruce Gary (GBL) are available 
here:  http://www.aavso.org/cgi-bin/searchcharts3.pl?name=var%20her%2004

 A web page on the object has been setup here:
            http://www.aavso.org/news/her04.shtml
 
 Good luck!
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 Good observing!

 Aaron Price, AAVSO Technical Assistant (PAH)
 Gary Walker, Chairman of the AAVSO CCD Committee (WGR)

Copyright 2004, American Association of Variable Star Observers
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           THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF VARIABLE STAR OBSERVERS
                25 Birch Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 USA
                Tel. 617-354-0484       Fax 617-354-0665
                         http://www.aavso.org
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