At ~80 days and still continuing, the current shoulder or hump in the RU Her light curve is among the longest on file. I think it's the second-longest to date, according to observations in the AAVSO database. I didn't look at each cycle in close detail, but there is only one shoulder that looked longer. It occurred in June-September 1981 and lasted about 89 days (~2444762-2444851). If the current one continues for another two weeks or so, I think it will be the longest we will have seen for RU Her.
Once RU Her resumes its climb toward maximum, it will be interesting to see how bright the max is. RU Her has maxima that vary in brightness, with a bright max almost always followed by a fainter one. The last max was of average brightness for this star, visual magnitude ~7.7 - not particularly bright, not particularly faint. According to RU Her's history, the next max could be fainter, the same, or brighter, so observers, please keep watching this interesting star!
There is a piece missing of the curve
Here's the link:
http://www.aavso.org/lcg/plot?auid=000-BBX-100&starname=RU%20HER&lastdays=1000&start=&stop=2456538.82108022&obscode=hhu&obscode_symbol=2&obstotals=yes&calendar=calendar&forcetics=&grid=on&visual=on&fainterthan=on&pointsize=1&width=800&height=450&mag1=&mag2=&mean=&vmean=
Hi Hubert,
At ~80 days and still continuing, the current shoulder or hump in the RU Her light curve is among the longest on file. I think it's the second-longest to date, according to observations in the AAVSO database. I didn't look at each cycle in close detail, but there is only one shoulder that looked longer. It occurred in June-September 1981 and lasted about 89 days (~2444762-2444851). If the current one continues for another two weeks or so, I think it will be the longest we will have seen for RU Her.
Once RU Her resumes its climb toward maximum, it will be interesting to see how bright the max is. RU Her has maxima that vary in brightness, with a bright max almost always followed by a fainter one. The last max was of average brightness for this star, visual magnitude ~7.7 - not particularly bright, not particularly faint. According to RU Her's history, the next max could be fainter, the same, or brighter, so observers, please keep watching this interesting star!
Good observing - Elizabeth Waagen, AAVSO HQ
Hello Elizabeth, thanks for checking this out. I missed the 1981 hump.
A star very interesting, will be added in list of star that I observe in summer, though I can observe it up to magnitude 10.
Thanks of all.