AAVSO Alert Notice 417:
Request for observations of GW Lib and V842 Cen in support of HST observations
March 3, 2010
Dr. Paula Szkody (U. Washington) has requested the help of AAVSO observers to provide monitoring of two cataclysmic variables, GW Lib and V842 Cen, in support of Hubble Space Telescope observations in March 2010. Observations of both objects are requested beginning immediately, with intensive observations requested beginning 48 hours prior to the scheduled HST visit. The first observation of GW Lib has now been scheduled for 2010 March 11 03:45 UT (JD 2455266.6563); intensive observations by the AAVSO community are requested beginning 2010 March 9 UT (JD 2455264.5). Observations of V842 Cen are expected to be scheduled during the dates of 2010 March 18-22.
GW Lib and V842 Cen are dwarf novae/novae that have undergone outbursts in the past. Observations of both sources are requested to guarantee to ground controllers at STScI that they are below V~14.0 which is considered the safe limit for the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph. Positive observations are preferred if at all possible,however any fainter-than below V=14 is useful.
Details about the V842 Cen observations will be issued via Alert Notice when they are finalized.
The GW Lib observations are tentatively scheduled for 2010 March 11 03:45 UT pending confirmation that the star remains in quiescence. Please promptly report all observations of this star to the AAVSO via WebObs. The use of WebObs will ensure the fastest delivery of your data to Dr. Szkody and STScI. We recommend using at least the “143” (AUID 000-BBW-012) and “147” (000-BBW-026) comparisons for fainter-than estimates. We note that GW Lib is an infrequent outburster, and it is highly unlikely that it will rise above its current brightness around V=17.0 on March 11. However, STScI will still require confirmation of this to ensure the safety of the Hubble Space Telescope and thus your observations may be key to triggering these observations.
GW Lib is located at the following (J2000) coordinates:
RA: 15 19 55.45 , Dec: -25 00 25.30
Charts for GW Lib may be plotted using AAVSO VSP:
http://www.aavso.org/observing/charts/vsp/index.html?pickname=GW%20Lib
Please report all observations of GW Lib to the AAVSO using the name “GW LIB”.
This AAVSO Alert Notice was prepared by Matthew Templeton.
SUBMIT OBSERVATIONS TO THE AAVSO
Information on submitting observations to the AAVSO may be found at:
http://www.aavso.org/observing/submit/
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Filed under: AAVSO Alerts
let's all just go athiest and beleive in science, that the known universe was created by the big bang. After looking at the breath-taking photo's from the hubble space telescope my views on everything changed.
The Hubble Space Telescope retrieval is not possible. Only the shuttle is large enough to stow it for return to earth. There are only 3 more external tanks for space shuttles in existence, all of which are to be used for the final three missions already planned for 2011 launches. Not to mention how extremely difficult it was to get one last hubble repair mission to happen (STS-125). There’s no option to go to the Internation Space Station if you have damage preventing you from reentering Earth’s atmosphere. Hubble is a national treasure and will have unlocked many scientific discoveries not to mention thousands of beautiful pictures of our universe. Hopefully, the James Webb telescope will pick up where HST left off.
THE FIRST DIRECT IMAGE OF THE SURFACE OF A STAR other than our sun was reported by Andrea Dupree of Harvard- Smithsonian. The surface of the star, Betelgeuse, had been indirectly imaged earlier using speckle interferometry, in which many brief exposures are added up to make a composite image. Dupree's pictures, made with the Hubble Space Telescope, confirm previous suspicions that Betelgeuse's surface exhibits a giant bright spot. According to Dupree, the spot is 2000 K warmer than its surroundings and this might be indicative of a new physical phenomenon at work in some stellar atmospheres.
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ciao 🙂