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Interesting that the variability in I is much less than in V. Reminiscent of the recent Betelgeuse fading
I was taking spectra last night and the signal from the target suddenly disappeared. I went outside to check and as far as I could tell the sky was completely clear. I went back inside and watched as the signal came back up. Half an hour later the same thing happened but this time I looked outside to find it was foggy, putting an end to observations
I Iooked at this but their claim that the extinction is grey is not the case here if one looks at the photometry in the IR where there was no reduction in H J bands and a smaller drop in R compared with B,V which is also seen in spectra. Perhaps this can be explained by the large grained dust model but I am surprised they have not considered the available photometry data
Christian Buil has just posted some high (R ~ 38,000) resolution spectra which confirm the reduction and narrowing of the H alpha line seen in my medium resolution spectra. He also detects a small (4.5km/s) shift in the line.
http://www.spectro-aras.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=38&t=2433&p=13796#p13792
These observations may be consistent with the partial obscuration of the star as suggested from the VLT images. The speed of rotation of the star is of the right order as can be seen in this reference and the axis of rotation is given there
https://www.obspm.fr/the-slow-rotation-of-the-red.html?lang=eng
As far as I can see, the orientation of the VLT image is not given though unfortunately.
Jeremy, are you still in contact with Prof. Constantino Sigismondi? I wonder if these observations might be of interest
Cheers
Robin
Yes slightly as seen in the increased depth of the molecular absorption bands (perhaps 1 subdivision eg M2i to M3i?)
https://britastro.org/comment/7649#comment-7649
https://britastro.org/comment/7861#comment-7861
Interestingly there has also been a reduction in H alpha absorption since the start of the year
In this case since it is a particular campaign with specific goals I would probably look to the PI for guidance.
In general though the processing (including combining) of data for submission to databases where the end use is unknown (and in this case potentially may not be known until all of us are long gone) is an ever present dilemma. I faced this in real life for example concerning databases storing vast quantities of process control and quality time series data from a continuous process (a paper machine) where (similar to astronomy) variations over several orders of timescale (from milliseconds to years in that case) are potentially of relevance. Ultimately, storing the data from every exposure and letting the final user make the decision would be ideal (aided perhaps by tools in the database to allow the casual user interrogating the database to view the filtered data). Andy (like our paper mill IT manager at the time) might baulk at every exposure being measured and stored individually indefinitely though! An alternative approach could perhaps be based on examining the data prior to submission to look at what point when combining data the variation if any becomes significant compared to the uncertainty, thus preserving the maximum information while storing the minimum of data.
Cheers
Robin
From the AAVSO light curve it looks like it reached maximum (~12.3 CV) on 25/26th Jan.
No chance to observe here for 2 weeks straight now (Even the odd clear spell has been bracketed by rain showers) but James Foster managed to get a few spectra and added them to our database.
https://twitter.com/planet4589/status/1222667505505722369
looks like they missed or at least no head on crash !
“Nonetheless, I am willing to tolerate pedants who think otherwise.”
🙂
There is indeed no point swimming against the tide on this one but don’t you find a decade lasting 9 years even a little unsettling 😉
01-01-21. Same as with the new millenium. Since the first day of the Common Era was 1st Jan 0001 the 3rd millenium began 1st Jan 2001 but you probably will not convince the billions who celebrated the year before or similarly convince them that the new decade starts next year
Here is the latest Atel on the subject
http://www.astronomerstelegram.org/?read=13410
“The recent changes defined by our V-band/Wing photometry seem best explained from changes in the envelop-outer convection atmosphere of this pulsating, unstable supergiant. If these recent light changes are due to an extra-large amplitude light pulse on the ~420-day period, then the next mid-light minimum is expected during late January/early February, 2020. If Betelgeuse continues to dim after that time then other possibilities will have to be considered. The unusual behavior of Betelgeuse should be closely watched.”
I am now picking up some evolution in my spectra since the start of the year. The relative flux around 7500A has been increasing compared with that at 5500A. This is consistent with the brightness in V dropping more than in the IR
These could perhaps be a source for content for the more general articles on the website or worked up into articles or even peer reviewed papers for the Journal, a sort of informal BAA arXiv ?
Thanks Andy,
I was thinking it might be interesting to use the personal page like a blog, text images and graphics covering particular topics. (Similar to the BAA articles but in the personal pages.) A combination of the quick post and the image submission functions which don’t quite fill this need individually. Opening up the quick post function to include graphics would do this I think. Is this something that might be considered for the future?
Cheers
Robin
I notice there is no direct access to member pages from the website when not logged in but they are accessible if the link is known eg
https://britastro.org/profile?id=146
https://britastro.org/node/20453
Is this intentional or just the way it works ?
Robin
Finally a clear night last night so was able to take a low noise spectrum at R~500 using the ALPY 600. Using SNID gives an exquisitely good detailed match to several Ia supernovae still a few days from maximum (black is my spectrum red is best match from SNID
Cheers
Robin
A low resolution spectrum from last night. Mainly scattered sunlight but once divided by a nearby G2v solar analogue star spectrum the emission features can be identified. CN at 390nm in the UV is particularly strong.
The raw spectrum image can be seen here
https://britastro.org/node/20453
Cheers
Robin
