THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF VARIABLE STAR OBSERVERS 25 Birch Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 USA Tel. 617-354-0484 Fax 617-354-0665 INTERNET: aavso@aavso.org * * * AAVSO NEWS FLASH * * * Subject: Note from the Director No. 345 0409-71 VW HYI September 23, 1998 1953+77 AB DRA ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- NOTE OF THANKS: My very sincere thanks to all our observers who continued to send nightly observations and to our technical assistant, Rebecca Pellock, who very ably compiled these observations and published 10 News Flashes, during my absence while I attended, representing the AAVSO, two very exciting meetings on variable stars. I am very happy to inform our subscribers that the AAVSO News Flashes will be published under both mine and Rebecca's names from here on. In the meetings that I attended -- IAU Symposium 191 on Asymptotic Giant Branch Stars held in Montpellier, France, and the NATO Advance Study Institute on Variable Stars as Important Astrophysical Tools, held in Cesme, Turkey, there were many references to and acknowledgements of AAVSO data - your observations - that astronomers have used to correlate multiwavelength observations and theoretical models. Three papers that I presented in these meetings, on trend analysis and classification of long period variables, generated much interest and further future collaborations. Again, THANK YOU! Keep your observations coming for they are crucial to variable star research! --- JAM ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 0409-71 VW HYDRI The dwarf nova type (SU UMA subclass) cataclysmic variable VW HYI appears to be in outburst, as indicated by the following observations: AAVSO Observer AAVSO Observer UT Mag. Initials UT Mag. Initials SEP 18.09 14.0 MLF SEP 23.127 12.0 OB SEP 22.1 <12.9 OB SEP 23.135 11.8 OB ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1953+77 AB DRACONIS The dwarf nova type (Z CAM subclass) cataclysmic variable AB DRA is in outburst, as indicated by the following observations: AAVSO Observer AAVSO Observer UT Mag. Initials UT Mag. Initials SEP 20.872 14.6 PYG SEP 22.1132 13.9 HSG SEP 21.3819 13.8 HSG SEP 22.99 13.1 GRL SEP 21.86 14.0 GRL SEP 23.1542 12.7 SWT SEP 21.93 14.0 KTO ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- We thank the following contributors for the data that they have provided for this News Flash: GRL - B. GRANSLO, NORWAY OB - M. OVERBEEK, SOUTH AFRICA HSG - G. HANSON II, USA PYG - G. POYNER, ENGLAND KTO - T. KINNUNEN, FINLAND SWT - R. STEWART, USA MLF - L. MONARD, SOUTH AFRICA Please monitor these and other variable stars closely and phone-in, fax, or e-mail your observations to the AAVSO. Good observing! Janet A. Mattei, Director Rebecca Pellock, Technical Assistant ____________________________________________________________________________ Symbols may include: < = fainter than magnitude given (variable not seen) : = uncertain CCDV = Charge-coupled device with (V) filter If you would like to contribute to AAVSO NEWS FLASH, please send observations of unusual variable star activity to: observations@aavso.org Those who wish to subscribe (free of charge) or unsubscribe to NEWS FLASH may do so by sending a message to: observations@aavso.org If you would like data from the AAVSO International Database for research purposes, please send your request to: Janet Mattei, AAVSO Director, at aavso@aavso.org We look forward to including your observations in future editions of AAVSO NEWS FLASH! ____________________________________________________________________________