Hi folks,
Here are some more targets to consider working as we move through spring towards summer.
V1674 Her – AKA Nova Herculis 2021 – This is an Intermediate Polar that went nova and has been very heavily studied since it went off in November of 2021. It has been the subject of multiple papers like this one.
It has an ~8 minute white dwarf spin rate that shows up easily with time series of 2 minute exposures in 12" telescopes despite the system running around 18th magnitude. A signal to noise of 10 to 15 gets the job done. The orbital period is about 3h and 40m so long runs and runs from multiple observers across longitudes are most valuable.
DQ Her – The prototypical Intermdiate Polar with a white dwarf spin period of 71s. Cadence of 30s or faster can show the white dwarf spin and help track the evolution of this system.
U Sco – A morning object. See Brad Schaeffer’s comments here:
Two opportunities with U Sco. Coverage out of eclipse and coverage during the eclipse to allow eclipse timing. Both are important to figuring out how recurring novae like this work. The eclipses go pretty deep – about 19.5. Gordon Myers has been covering the eclipses with a 17" scope in Australia. More help definitely needed. The data for the eclipse timing has a lot of noise and so more eclipse runs are a big help.
For out-of-eclipse data points, you’ll want to stack several exposures to get good S/N for U Sco at about 18th mag. Peter Nelson has been doing most of the out-of-eclipse photometry for the last several years. Plenty of opportunity to help him out. You can use VSX to get an ephemeris for when U Sco is eclipsing to make sure you are out of eclipse.
Other targets to consider:
Early evening objects:
AM CVn
VZ Sex – no time series yet this year
CR Boo – no time series yet this year
After midnight targets that would be good to get early season runs on include
V Sge
V1974 Cyg
V1500 Cyg
Other targets people might suggest?
Clearest skies,
Walt