AAVSO Alert Notice 532
October 20, 2015
Observations requested for KIC 08462852
The AAVSO requests time-series observations of the enigmatic variable
object KIC 08462852 beginning immediately and continuing through at
least the end of the current observing season. The star is relatively
bright (V=11.88) and shows aperiodic dips of a few tenths of a
magnitude, the causes of which are unknown. The object is not known
to be a close binary or a young stellar object, and there are no
other typical indicators of circumstellar material such as infrared
emission. More observations are requested to further characterize the
star's variability.
Filtered time-series observations in one or more photometric filters
are encouraged. Individual fading events have lasted for several
days each, but show complex structure on very short timescales. The
star itself is also rotating, and shows rotational variation at the
millimagnitude level with a period of 0.8797 day. Instrumental
observers world-wide are encouraged to participate, and we encourage
observers from Asia and the northern Pacific especially to
participate to improve temporal coverage of this star.
Coordinates (J2000): RA 20 06 15.46 , Dec +44 27 24.8
The star is located in Cygnus, which as of today (2015 October 20)
is transiting in the early evening. Observations are requested
through early 2016 at least while Cygnus is favorably located in
the sky. Observers should aim to reach signal to noise values of 50
or higher if possible. Transformed observations made in multiple
filters (at least Johnson B and V) may be useful for determining
the cause of variability if calibrated colors are obtained. If
submitting untransformed data, observers are encouraged to follow
this star as part of their long-term observing programs for at
least one season; doing so will allow researchers to determine
individual photometric offsets and combine data from multiple
observers.
A comparison star sequence is available for KIC 08462852, and charts
are available via AAVSO VSP:
https://www.aavso.org/vsp
Please promptly report all observations to the AAVSO International
Database using the name "KIC 8462852"; please note the space
between "KIC" and the identifier which is required for submission.
More information about this object may be found in a recent paper
by Boyajian et al. (2015; MNRAS, submitted), available at the
following URL:
http://arxiv.org/abs/1509.03622
This AAVSO Alert Notice was prepared by M. Templeton and E.O. Waagen.
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