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It looks like Nick James’s observation on the evening of Oct 31 with an unfiltered magnitude of 14.81 marks the start of the outburst. With a JD of 2459519.29 this is only 56 days since the previous superoutburst but within the range of many recent results reported in VSSC 187.
Lets see how long this superoutburst lasts.
My next target is V1504 Cyg whose next superoutburst is due in a two weeks time.
Looking at the data reported to the BAA and AAVSO databases, the start of the next superoutburst could be in 3-4 days time.
A normal outburst peaked at mag 15.3 (CV) on the evening of 29 Oct (NDJ and I) was probably the last before the superoutburst.
IX Dra is quite well placed in the evening sky. Good luck.
Stewart
I note that many of the AAVSOnet instruments are small: BSM New Mexico and BSM Berry (Perth , Aust) are both 180 mm. For VS use they are suitable and are busy – when working.
David
I have experience of both the iTel and SLOOH telescopes as I do not have my own kit. I do not have my own kit because of the hassle of looking after the site, the dome, the telescope, insurance, computer hardware, software, internet access etc. I can understand why people might be concerned about setting up a BAA telescope from scratch. If it must be a BAA telescope then I would probably recommend an existing telescope farm to cover most of these hassles at , I think, about £300-400 a month. That still leaves the issue of organising how individual users will get time on the instrument.
The other option is to subsidise members using iTEL or SLOOH ( or others). SLOOH offers five targets per night for $300 a year with various filters depending on their eight telescopes. I do VS observing. Sites are available in both hemispheres. This route seems to be the lowest risk to get started as there is an easy way to bail out if it all goes wrong.
The AAVSOnet instruments do run well for periods but then stop for a long time as equipment goes down. Its a bit mixed in my experience.
Stewart Bean (SLOOH member and ex iTEL member)
Got a few images now from the AAVSOnet SRO telescope in the USA on CG Dra. It has been down for some time.
Hopefully more will follow.
Stewart
IX Dra was at V mag 17.9 on 20 Sept 04.42 UTC marking the end of the superoutburst. Almost immediately a normal outburst has started. I think the start of this superoutburst was recorded well and I expect a few more observations to appear in due course.
Thanks to N D James and N L Joslin for observations in the BAA database.
The next superoutburst will be around fireworks night!
Stewart
AAVSOnet telescopes in New Mexico have made two observations of ER UMa this week marking the start of this star’s observing season. As noted above, the next superoutburst may be around Oct 1 but could be later by a week or so as ER Uma does appear to vary its super cycle period between 45 and 55 days.
For UK observers, the star is very low in the north by north west sky in the evening. In the unsociable early morning, it does rise about 30 degrees above the horizon before dawn.
More details on ER UMa were presented in VSS Circular 188.
Nick, I’m pleased to see your results in the BAA database as neither SLOOH or AAVSOnet have delivered results for last night. Slooh had it at CV 14.9 at UTC 2021/09/06 00:10:23. Looks like the superoutburst is under way and it was around the time expected. Normally they last for about 10 days. Stewart
IX Dra has a superoutburst period of around 60 days – give or take a day. This means the next superoutburst is likely to be around September 5 -7th. The most recent magnitude I have is around 17.7 CV (on 2459456.5 Aug 30) using SLOOH Canary 2. Further observations to capture the start of the superoutburst would be welcome.
Got a series of seven 60 s images from iTEL 18 in Spain last night 2459431.46 . Airmass of about 1.016.
All seven are around 11.47 V mag using Vphot and AAVSO comp stars.
This is a bit of a fade over the last 2 days.
Stewart
I am occasionally contributing to the present campaign on CG Dra with a V filter on iTEL 18 in Spain. Many of the results are being gathered using the CV method.
What systematic differences do we expect between the two?
Stewart
The good news is that iTEL are forgiving of my mistakes in setting up runs. They have refunded my account which I think is very good of them.
I thought I would give this bright nova a try with iTEL 18 (300 mm) in Spain. Even with only a 5 sec exposure the images were saturating. Then all iTEL images are charged as if they were 60 sec exposures – not economical.
So I will stick to fainter objects unless someone can point out a workaround.
Stewart
Nick, These two observations constrain the start of the superoutburst rather well giving a super outburst period of about 59 days. This is in line with recent periods. IX Dra does seem to be fairly consistent. Until the next time of course.
Cheers
Stewart
iTEL 18 and Vphot gave CG Dra at 16.71 very early this morning.
Check star 147 (14.674 ) estimated at 14.679. Airmass 1.04.
Stewart
IX Dra has been observed by AAVSOnet New Mexico scope, in combination with Vphot, as follows.
2021/07/09 03:45 14.57 V
2021/07/10 04:44 14.7 V
These are values consistent with a superoutburst. There has been a week of no observations so the start of the outburst is not yet clear.
Stewart
iTEL 18 and Vphot report CG Dra, 2459405.55119, 16.693 V filter
So a short outburst that I have just missed. Still all results are useful. iTEL subscription get refreshed on the 12th so will try again.
Stewart
Tim, At the MAST site there is one 27 day photometry measurement for RX And in the TESS data. this record suggests there may be a period of 0.21 days. However there seems to be a lot of short term variation that makes pulling out the 0.21 period really difficult.
MAST is at STScI | Mikulski Archive for Space Telescopes (MAST) Portal
type in “rx and” into the “and enter target” box and hit RETURN. Click on the uppermost “Timeseries Viewer” icon in the second row down. Up pops the photometry record which you can zoom into.
Stewart
