Building Your CV Program

A lot of observers don't like to make negative observations or they think
cataclysmic variable outbursts are once a year type things, so they shy away
from them. Not so. It can be a lot of fun following these unpredictable
stars, and many of them are quite active and/or bright.

I recommend starting with CVs that actually pop off frequently or are bright
enough throughout the cycle that you can see them even at minimum with a 10"
scope. Throw in a few RCrBs and some oddballs here and there and you have
yourself an entertaining night at the scope every clear night.

My biggest problem was the quality or availability of the charts for these
stars, especially the more obscure ones. That's when I started learning to
make my own. Luckily for you all, that is no longer a problem for any of the
stars I am about to write about.

I'm even gonna make it easier than that for you. I'm going to list them in a
logical order to observe them every clear night and I'll separate out the
northern ones so you can go around the pole in another sweep or two.

I also enjoy variables that are near interesting galaxies or nebulae, but
(shhh...) don't tell anyone. I have a reputation you know.

My apologies to the southern hemisphere people, but I live at 43 degrees
north.

OK, here goes...

WW Cet 9.3-15.7 UGSS Fairly active and bright in outburst. New charts will
be coming out in Jan 2005, but the current ones are not bad. Kind of a
sparse field and not real easy to find, but you'll be rewarded with positive
observations often enough to make it worth the effort.

TY Psc 12.2-16.3 UGSU Has superoutburst that can last for a week or more.
Fairly active and lies just north of an excellent asterism you will never
forget after a couple visits. Very close to M33.

TW Tri 13.3-17.2 UGZ Just around the corner from TY Psc. Fairly active and
you might as well go there if you're in the neighborhood. Can't miss it in
outburst; there is nothing there to confuse it with.

Z And 8.4-11.5 Not a CV per se, but the prototypical symbiotic. Always
bright enough to see.

AR And 11.0-17.1 Active UGSS with frequent bright outbursts. Forms a
triangle with M33 and M31.

RX And 10.3-14.5 Due east of M31. This UGZ is always doing something.
Standstills are typically not long and it is up and down every night. You
never know what you'll find, but it is almost always above 14th mag. I'll
never stop observing this star even if they point an automated CCD at it
from space and monitor it every minute. Why should they have all the fun?

IW And 13.5-17.4 Almost due north of RX And. Active and not well understood.
Just had a very long (weeks!) bright outburst. UGZ? nobody knows. Good one.

3C 66A 13.5-15.5 AGN- Give this one a try just so when somebody asks you how
far can you see with your telescope you can tell them 2 billion light years!
There are a half dozen other galaxies in this FOV that look like fuzzy
stars.

KT Per 10.6-16.1 UGZ Always up and down. Very active. Bright outbursts and
short minimum usually. Not far from M76. I used to star hop from M76 to get
there! One of my top 10 favorites.

TZ Per 12.0-15.6 Another hyper-active UGZ. Visible most of the time just
north of a kite-like asterism that will soon become your best friend. Mikey
likes it.

DY Per 10.6-<15 RCB Just recovering from a long fade, this one could drop
again any time or stay at max for a year. New charts coming out in December!

GK Per 0.2-14.0 This old nova just won't give up the ghost. It refuses to
die. It's been quite active lately after hovering around 13.2 for a long
time.

FO Per 11.8-16.2 Another entertaining UGZ in Perseus. This one goes off
about every other week or so and stays bright for good long periods. Another
SXN fave.

SU Tau 9.3-17.2 RCB. New charts make observing this one more fun now too.
Spooky M1 is in the same finder scope field.

HL CMa 10.6-14.5 Just south of Sirius. If you need a finder chart for this
one sell your telescope and take up knitting.

CN Ori 11.0-16.2 UG Seems to be in outburst more often than not. Due east of
M43 and south of M78, so you can sneak a peek at star parties while everyone
else is ogling the Great Nebula in Orion.

V1159 Ori 11.2-15.2 About mid-way between M42 and Orion's belt, situated
just south of a bright trio of stars. OK, put in the wide angle EP and enjoy
the view. Lots to see, but don't take long. I'm already in Monoceros by now.

CZ Ori 11.2-15.6 UG Not as active as the other two, but if you're lucky, you
get the trifecta and all three are in outburst on the same night!

SS Aur 10.5-15.8 (or fainter :^) I don't know why I like this one so much.
Maybe because it was one of the first ones I saw in outburst and I nearly
wet myself. My favorite challenge is to try and see it at minimum on really
good nights. It travels almost straight overhead for me, so it's a deep
field on good nights.

SV CMi 12.6-17.1 UGZ You can hop from Procyon to get there. Not too hard to
find and fairly active.

IR Gem 10.7-<15 UG This is just a cool field. It was made for variable star
observing. Kind of a big baseball diamond in the sky, and IR is the
pitcher's mound.

U Gem 8.2 -14.9 With a 10 or 12" scope you can always see this one. If you
want a challenge try observing eclipses of it in quiescence! It can be done.
Sometimes it flickers madly. Too fast for CCD observers to catch. (nyah,
nyah) Trust your eyes, U Gem is crazy, not you.

SY Cnc 10.6-13.7 I used to hate this star because the sequence was hosed,
and it made me wonder what the heck I was seeing. Much better now. Quite
active and really a good one to follow. Last year Jupiter was so close to
this star for a time it was nearly impossible to observe. And then it swung
back around and did it again! Retrograde motion, what a pain.

AT Cnc 12.3-14.6 UGZs are supposed to drop out of a standstill and go to
minimum before going into outburst. I guess AT didn't read the book. It's
gone straight into outburst from standstill. I just love a rebel. After a
very long time in standstill I caught this star fade and then go into
outburst in just two nights recently. Played by the rules that time, but
what about next time?

YZ Cnc 11.3-14.0 Another UG you can catch at minimum and it's very active.
It is a UGSU, so it has long bright superoutbursts and frequent regular
outburst. I'm usually surprised to find it NOT in outburst.

X Leo 11.1-15.7 Old faithful. Goes off about every other week, and then
maybe not. Easy to find if you know where R Leo is, which is easy to find if
you know where Regulus is. This should be a beginners list star for sure. R
Leo and X Leo, a twofer!

RZ LMi 13.8-16.8 OK, LMI is hard to navigate, but this one isn't too hard to
find and it's like V1159 Ori, always popping off.

TT Crt 12.5-15.3 Once you find it, this field gets easier each time. For me
the observing season is a bit short because it is pretty far south, but I
catch at least one outburst each year.

TW Vir 11.8-15.2 If you can't find it, who cares. There are about 700 NGC
galaxies around it. Bump the telescope and find one. 3915 and 3952 are
pretty close. You can start SE of it at a 5th mag star, pass by NGC3915 and
head towards a 7th mag star and you're just about there. The 7th mag star is
on the d and e charts, I think.

AL Com hardly ever goes off, but it's just south of M88. If you can find M88
you have found AL Com.

CR Boo 13.0-<17.5 This is a weird little beast. A helium dwarf nova and
active as heck.

TT Boo 12.0-19.3 This one has looog outbursts and is pretty easy to find.
It's in outburst right now, so get up early and go get it!

R CrB 5.7-14.8 Dust off your binoculars or try for it naked eye under dark
skies. One never knows when the next fade will be, or how long it will last,
or if it will drop off again after partially recovering. New charts coming
out in Jan 2005.

T CrB 2.0-10.8 NR Check it every night or you'll be sorry. Leslie Peltier
missed it rise after observing it at minimum for years just because he slept
in.

RS Oph 4.3-12.5 NR While you're at it. This one is overdue to go off. I read
somewhere this star is purple in outburst! Is that right?
If you catch either of these it's big news.

V426 Oph- 11.6-13.4 Tough crowded field but very active star. New charts for
Christmas this year.

UZ Ser 12.0-16.7 This is about as far south as I go, but I observe this one
because in outburst you can see it through the haze. Pretty active and
bright, and quite an interesting little guy.

AH Her- 11.3-14.7 This UGZ isn't real easy to find, but well worth the
effort. Very active and always visible.

CY Lyr- 13.2-17.0 Probably my favorite star because of the perfect little
star cluster it resides in. Very active and easy to observe and find.

AY Lyr UGSU 12.8-17.1 You can start at Vega and hop over, or you can start
at Epsilon Lyra and head north, but make this a stop on your list. It has
long bright superoutbursts and regular outbursts, and every once in a while
it has a little short precursor outburst just before a super outburst.

MV Lyr 12.8-17.1 When in its high state it is easily visible in the 12th mag
range. Then she drops off the table for a while and we all wait for her to
come back. About 1.5 degrees east of R Lyr. Plenty of stars to find your way
there.

UU Aql 11.0-16.8 Talk about asterisms, this one has an actual pointer
indicating right where it will be when it goes off!

FO Aql 13.6-17.5 Very active little bugger. Pretty busy star field. Not for
beginners, but a must have in your collection eventually.

SV Sge 11.5-16.2 Another RCB. There aren't that many; you might as well do
them all!

RZ Sge 12.2-17.2 Beautiful star field, great sequence, and when it goes it
really goes. Worth the trip even for a negative observation just because it
is pretty.

FG Sge resides in a planetary nebula, so it IS a deep sky object! 9.5 - who
knows?

V Sge NL 8.6-13.9 This is a crazy star. Your estimate will be different
nearly every night, even if you do it every night!

**Now, there a boatload of CVs and interesting stars in Cygnus, but most of
them are like me; not too bright, frustrating to deal with, and eventually
they will piss you off. So here are just a few.**

EM Cyg 11.9-14.4 You can follow this one all the time too. Very active most
of the time. Best of all it lies in a beautiful star field. Not a great
sequence. We're working on it.

V482 Cyg RCB This one has been hovering around 11th mag forever. It will
fade again one day, but she can test your patience.

V516 Cyg 13.8-16.8 Not enough comp stars to do a great job estimating, but
you can't miss it in outburst, which is more often than most.

V503 Cyg 13.4-17.9 Another UGSU. Superoutbursts and regular outbursts, and
pretty active. Superoutbursts can go a looong time. Chances are good on any
given night you'll catch it doing something.

SS Cyg- Very active star, everyone and their dog observes it. So what? It's
fun to follow and easy to observe. Try observing this one in outburst as it
sets in the evening and then again in the morning when it pops out the other
side at dawn!

BL Lac This one is a ...BL Lac! An active galactic nucleus. Not too far away
from SS Cyg and pretty easy to observe. It has active periods...duh... and
not so active spells.

RU Peg should be on everyone's list. It's bright, but has a companion of
almost equal brightness parked right on top of it that makes it a challenge
in smaller scopes when it is in quiescence. Outbursts go into the 9-10 mag
range.

IP Peg is an eclipsing UG. You can observe eclipses visually when its in
outburst if you know when to look. They are dramatic and easy to follow
since this one gets to 10.5 at times. Most people like it because of the
unmistakable asterism it is in.

Aawh, quit whining... we're almost done, and I'm giving you this for free!

Around the pole-

GX Cas 13.3-18.5 Asterisms and easy star hopping make it a pleasure to come
here. Unfortunately, it is a bit long between outburts, but what the heck.
This is a good field. Plenty of good comp stars to see how faint you're
getting tonight.

KU Cas 13.3-18.9 Don't get fooled by the 14.7 neighbor to KU. It is always
there. KU is not. If you see two...bingo, outburst!

AM Cas 12.6-15.7 A bit of a confusing field until you get to know it because
there are similar asterisms that can suck you into the wrong hole. Pretty
active though, so figure it out when you have some time.

SXN tip of the day: If you mess up here or somewhere else on the first two
tries, skip it and come back later with a fresh attitude. Invariably what
happens is, you keep making the same wrong move somewhere along the way over
and over again. Even if you think you know what you are doing or did wrong
before. Sometimes we get stubborn, "I'm not gonna let this stupid star beat
me!", and we keep trying over and over with the same result. Relax, there's
always tomorrow or Thursday.

Z Cam 10.0-14.5 The granddaddy of UGZs, this one has long standstills and
then moves all around and then fades and then....well, you get the picture.
Always visible in an 8" scope.

SU UMa 10.8-15.0 While being pretty active with outbursts and
superoutbursts, this is not necessarily an easy one to find or observe. Add
this one later after your confidence and ability grows.

ER UMa 12.5- 15. I love this star. It never stops going. A bit challenging
to find at first, but always doing something and doing it loudly. Yeah, my
kind of star.

Here are a few for the deep sky enthusiasts. CH UMa, CI UMa and CP Dra. A lot of guys I know look at M81 and M82 every night. They can pretty much just kick the Dob and it lands there.