Event: ASASSN-V J195442.95+172212.6 (TCP J19544251+1722281 = Vend47), originally classified as a semiregular variable, has been reclassified as a symbiotic variable as a result of its being discovered in outburst by Robert Fidrich during the course of his "Vendégcsillag-kereső" (Guest Star Hunter) nova patrol program. Subsequent spectroscopy confirmed the nature of the object as a symbiotic variable.
Event: Nova in Ophiuchus - N Oph 2018 No. 3 = PNV J17422408-2053088
Discovered by: C. Jacques, J. Barros, E. Pimentel, and P. Holvorcem, on behalf of the Brazilian Transient Search - BraTS (at SONEAR Observatory, Oliveira, Brazil); via TOCP
Discovery magnitude: unfiltered CCD magnitude 11.1 (on three frames, 10-sec exposure, using an astrograph 11" f/2.2 + CCD camera)
August 6, 2018 : Further to AAVSO Alert Notice 640, the SU UMa-type dwarf nova VW Hyi is in outburst and is the subject of a multiwavelength campaign designed to detect possible radio emission during the outburst.
R LMi is an interesting Mira star that has been observed by AAVSO observers and members since 1865. Over 21,000 observations are in the AID from over 900 different observers as can be seen in the light curve shown below which displays all observations in the AID. It is one of the Legacy LPV Program stars. It was observed initially in the 1860’s-1870’s before a cessation in observations occurred. Reasonable coverage did not commence again until the establishment of the AAVSO in 1911.
July 31, 2018: Michael Stroh (Ph.D. candidate, University of New Mexico) requests AAVSO assistance in monitoring 20 LPVs in support of a VLA campaign studying SiO masers. AAVSO monitoring begins now and goes through October 2019.
July 27, 2018: Dr. Colin Littlefield (University of Notre Dame) writes:
"In both 2016 and 2017, my colleagues and I requested AAVSO campaigns on the intermediate polar FO Aquarii to study its first-ever faint states. In both campaigns, we were delighted with both the quality and quantity of the data that we received from AAVSO observers [AAVSO Alert Notices 545, 598).
July 25, 2018: John Strachan (Ph.D. candidate, Queen Mary University of London) and Dr. Guillem Anglada-Escude (Queen Mary University of London) have requested AAVSO assistance in the monitoring of three M dwarf stars as part of the Red Dots #2 campaign.
July 24, 2018: Dr. Matt Darnley (Astrophysics Research Institute, Liverpool John Moores University) and the AAVSO are requesting monitoring of ASASSN-18pe, the cataclysmic variable (possible long period dwarf nova) discovered 2018 July 10 by the ASAS-SN program (J. Strader et al. ATel #11867) at magnitude V = 15.8.
July 24, 2018: Dr. Dirk Froebrich (University of Kent) has requested AAVSOobservations to support their upcoming observations of V1490 Cyg. He writes:
"Background: We have recently discovered that the young star V1490 Cyg (situated in the Pelican Nebula IC 5070) is periodically occulted by material in its circumstellar disk(*). Our light-curves indicate a period of about 32 days, and the obscurations are comparable to UX-Ori type eclipses.
