Affiliation
American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO)
Sun, 10/06/2019 - 13:57
Fellow LPV'ers,
There is good evidence we're entering into the multi-year period where R Aqr is getting eclipsed and thus produces deep minimia. This happens every 44 years.
This is a very unique and interesting system. Read more about it here. https://www.aavso.org/vsots_raqr
Also refer to Alert notices 665 and 535 for more information.
The latest observations (10/5) put the star around 11.5 V, so near its normal minimum. Let's see if it gets lower!
RRIA.
According to Frank Schorr, R Aqr's B-V has really been decreasing over the last 150 days. Looks like the star is entering its multi-year event.
The Mira stars that I observe have very regular lightcurves. It's exciting to see one that really deviates and I enjoy trying to imagine how and why it happens. (The VSOTS article was very helpful in this regard.) From the LCG (as of 11/22) it looks like R AQR is down in the 12's.
Thank you for your post. I look forward to adding some visual points to the lightcurve in the coming months.
BADB