AAVSO Alert Notice

February 13, 2018

Event: Nova in Scorpius: Nova Sco 2018 No. 2 = PNV J16484962-4457032

Discovered by: Hideo Nishimura (Kakegawa, Shizuoka-ken, Japan, reported by S. Nakano, Sumoto, Japan, via CBET 4488)

Discovery magnitude: unfiltered CCD magnitude 11.7 (on five frames using a Canon EOS 6D digital camera+200-mm-f.l. f/3.2 lens)

Discovery date: 2018 February 6.863 UT
 
Coordinates (2000.0): R.A. 16 48 49.62  Decl. -44 57 03.2

February 12, 2018

Event: Probable Nova in M31: ASASSN-18ca = PNV J00423439+4044255

Discovered independently by:
- Koichi Itagaki (Yamagata, Japan; reported via CBAT TOCP)
- All Sky Automated Survey for SuperNovae (ASAS-SN) (reported by J. Brimacombe et al. in ATel #11275)

February 12, 2018: Dr. Koji Mukai (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center) and colleagues have requested AAVSO observations of the WZ Sge type dwarf nova GW Lib in support of observations with the ESA XMM-Newton spaceobservatory scheduled for

2018 February 17  05:46:41 - 21:36:41 UT

January 31, 2018

Event: Nova in Circinus  -  Nova Cir 2018 = PNV J13532700-6725110

Discovered by: John Seach (Chatsworth Island, NSW, Australia)

Discovery magnitude: 9.1 unfiltered CCD (on three images, using DSLR with 50 mm f/1.2 lens)

January 31, 2018

Event: Nova in Scorpius  -  Nova Sco 2018 = PNV J17180658-3204279

Discovered by: Hideo Nishimura (Kakegawa, Shizuoka-ken, Japan), reported by S. Nakano (Sumoto, Japan)

Discovery magnitude: unfiltered CCD magnitude 11.0 (three 10-second images using DSLR with 200-mm f/3.2 lens)

Discovery date: 2018 January 17.869 UT
 
Coordinates (2000.0): R.A. 17 18 06.37  Decl. -32 04 27.7 (from VSX)

January 26, 2018: AAVSO member/observer Adolfo Darriba (Madrid, Spain) informs us that Dr. Dave Thompson, Multiwavelength Coordinator for the Large Area Telescope (LAT) of NASA's Fermi Gamma-Ray Telescope, on behalf of the Fermi LAT Collaboration has called for observations of the blazar 3C 279, which is undergoing a major gamma-ray flare.

January 26, 2018: An AAVSO campaign on the bright star b Per has been launched at the request of Dr. Donald F. Collins, who writes:

January 15, 2018

Event: Nova in Musca - Nova Muscae 2018 = PNV J11261220-6531086

Discovered by: Rob Kaufman (Bright, Victoria, Australia)

Discovery magnitude: 7.0 V (on four frames, using Canon 650D and 55mm lens)

Discovery date: 2018 January 14.4861 UT

Coordinates (2000.0):  R.A. 11 26 15.16  Decl. -65 31 23.3
Position from VSX; measured by Daniel Bamberger (Marburg, Germany) on frames taken by Robert Fidrich (Bakonycsernye, Hungary).

December 1, 2017: Dr. Deanne Coppejans (Northwestern University) and colleagues have requested AAVSO assistance in monitoring the cataclysmic variable TT Ari in support of observations scheduled to be made with the Very Large Array (VLA) in December 2017.

Dr. Coppejans writes:

December 1, 2017: Dr. Mark Kennedy (Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics, University of Manchester) requests AAVSO observers' assistance in providing optical coverage of the polar MASTER OT J132104.04+560957.8 in support of observations with the XMM-Newton satellite scheduled for this Sunday, 2017 December 3, 08:35:31 UT - 16:38:51 UT.

The XMM-Newton observations themselves will not include an optical component, so photometry provided by AAVSO observers is essential for the interpretation of the X-ray data.