Affiliation
American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO)
Thu, 10/31/2019 - 13:56
Fellow LPVers,
A new LPV of the Month Article has just been posted in the section webpage on the bright Lb-type (maybe) carbon star TX PSC.
There is a lot of recent literature on this star as it has been studied extensively in non-visual wavelengths.
While putting this article together, I concluded this star would be an excellent BSM target so I submitted a proposal and it was accepted yesterday. I just finished Ken Menzie's VPHOT Choice Course (which is excellent and I highly recommend) so this will be an opportunity to put my new skills to the test. I will keep everyone posted.
Please post any feedback you have on the article. I'm currently working on Y Per for next month.
Clear Skies!
Rich Roberts (RRIA)
As a follow up, I recieved the first BSM images of TX PSC, processed them in VPHOT, and submitted them to the AID.
The process is really easy.
If you have any star out there that you think would benefit from multi-band photometry or you think just isn't getting enough love, I recommend going to the BSM page and submitting a proposal. As a reference, this is what I submitted:
Many professional astronomers are studying TX PSC in sub-visible wavelengths. The star is of interest because it has just recently become a carbon star and it has an interesting circumstellar envelope which they can get good resolution on due to the star's relative closeness (275 pc). The star lacks consistent visual wavelength observations to go with all the IR and radio, which could be useful. There is decent coverage in Johnson V and a little in Johnson B, but almost no photometry in the R and I bands. The star is currently classified as a Lb-type, but there is some evidence that a period exist and the star is really a misclassified SRa or SRb. A JAAVSO article was written in 1997 suggesting a 220 day period. Looking at recent photometry in VSTAR, I found a possible 257 day period. I propose conducting observations in BVRI at 5-7 day intervals. This will help establish the star's color index (the star wasn't covered in APASS) and help determine if the star has a period and properly classify it. 2 years duration will comfortably capture 2 cycles. Besides the scientific goals, I plan to discuss the project as things occur and my lessons learned on the LPV forums to encourage members to engage the BSM to support their observing.
After submitting, I got an email when it was accepted and when the plan was developed and sent to the telescopes. After that I got an email that the images were sent to my VPHOT account and that's it.
Thanks,
Rich Roberts (RRIA)