AAVSO Alert Notice

March 29, 2018: Further to AAVSO Alert Notice 618, Anna Pala (Ph.D. candidate, University of Warwick) informs us that the date and time of the HST observations planned for the faint polar cataclysmic variable SDSS J153817.35+512338.0 have been set for

2018 April 6 17:33:26 - 21:33:19 UT

March 26, 2018

Event: Nova in Canis Major - Nova CMa 2018 = TCP J07134590-2112330

Discovered by: Yuji Nakamura (Kameyama, Mie, Japan) (reported to CBAT by M. Soma, National Astronomical Observatory of Japan)

Discovery magnitude: CCD magnitude 12.0, using a 10-cm f/3 reflector

Discovery date: 2018 March 24.496 UT

Coordinates (2000.0): R.A. 07 13 45.84  Decl. -21 12 31.3  (from VSX)

March 21, 2018

Event: Nova in Carina - ASASSN-18fv

Discovered by: All Sky Automated Survey for SuperNovae (ASAS-SN)

Discovery magnitude: brighter than magnitude 10 V (image was saturated)

Discovery date: 2018 March 20.32 UT

Coordinates (2000.0): R.A. 10 36 13.71  Decl. -59 35 55.1  (from VSX)

March 21, 2018: Dr. Tom Maccarone (Texas Tech University) has requested AAVSO observers' assistance in monitoring the outbursting black hole X-ray binary ASASSN-18ey = MAXI J1820+070 in support of VLT and XMM observations scheduled for:

2018 22 March 08-09:30 UT  and  29 March 08-09:30 UT

V time series are requested, with as short a cadence as possible (ideally, a time resolution of 0.1 second or better).

Please see AAVSO Alert Notice 624 for more information about this object.

March 19, 2018: Drs. Gregory Sivakoff (University of Alberta), Poshak Gandhi (University of Southampton), and Diego Altamirano (University of Southampton) have requested AAVSO observers' assistance in monitoring the new black hole X-ray binary candidate ASASSN-18ey = MAXI J1820+070.

March 16, 2018: Dr. Jennifer Sokoloski (Columbia University) and colleagues (led by Dr. Koji Mukai, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center) have requested AAVSO assistance in observing the nova/dwarf nova V1017 Sgr in preparation for an XMM-Newton observation scheduled for 2018 March 23 or 24.

Confirmation that the system is not in dwarf-nova outburst as of March 23 is needed so that the XMM observation may take place.

March 15, 2018

Event: Nova in Ophiuchus - N Oph 2018 No. 2 = PNV J17140261-2849237 = PNV J17140261-2849237

Discovered Independently by:
- Hideo Nishimura (Kakegawa, Shizuoka-ken, Japan, reported by S. Nakano)
- Tadashi Kojima (Tsumagoi, Gunma-ken, Japan, reported by S. Nakano)
- Koichi Nishiyama (Kurume, Japan) and Fujio Kabashima (Miyaki, Japan)

March 15, 2018: Evan A. Rich (Ph.D. candidate, University of Oklahoma), and Drs. John Wisniewski (University of Oklahoma), John Tobin (University of Oklahoma), Carol Grady (Goddard Space Flight Center), and Mike Sitko (University of Cincinnati) have requested AAVSO assistance in monitoring the bright (6.9 V) Young Stellar Object NSV 24045 (HD 163296) from now through September 2018.

This Alert Notice has been edited to correct a typographical error, and to correct the statement that the LMC was not well placed for coverage from Chile; AAVSO coverage was requested to broaden the coverage in longitude. Apologies for the errors - EOW

March 14, 2018: Dr. Frederick Walter (Stony Brook University) has requested AAVSO observers, particularly those in South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand, to monitor the current outburst of the recurrent nova Nova LMC 1996 = OGLE-2018-NOVA-01.

March 6, 2018

Event: Nova in Ophiuchus - Nova Oph 2018 = PNV J17244011-2421463

Discovered by: Tadashi Kojima (Gunma-ken, Japan), reported via S. Nakano (Sumoto, Japan)

Discovery magnitude: unfiltered CCD magnitude 12.5 (on three frames, using Canon EOS 6D digital camera + 200-mm f/3.2 lens)