Mircea Pteancu, a Romanian amateur astronomer, has sent me a link to his ‘Synoptic Atlas of Variable Stars’. This is a free download, and contains a large number of variable star charts, including those from the SPA, BAA and AAVSO. Most of the listed stars are suitable for beginners, and can be observed with binoculars or a small telescope.

If you are interested in downloading a copy, it can be obtained via this link: https://www.astromix.ro/product/synoptic-atlas-of-variable-stars/

May be you’ll be inspired to add some new stars to your observing list!

A new nova has been reported in the constellation of Vulpecula (the Fox). It has been designated V0615 Vul, and can be found at 19:43h, +21d. It may brighten to become visible in binoculars.

Below is a comparison chart for binocular observers created by the AAVSO online tool.

Any images or visual observations would be welcome.

The VSS Annual Report 2023 is now available to at:

Annual_Report_2023

There has been some speculation that the recurrent nova, T CrB may be due to undergo another outburst sometime over the next year, or even over the next few months.

Although we can’t guarantee that T CrB will suddenly brighten, if it were to experience an outburst, it will be easily seen with both binoculars and the naked eye.

Members may what to check T CrB on a regular basis, as we never know what might happen.

I’ve attached some comparison charts for T CrB.

R Coronae Borealis has now faded below the range of most binoculars. Recent estimates place it around 9.6, so you would need a moderately sized telescope to see it, and make any estimates.

Below is the BAA’s telescopic chart for R CrB.

Observations made by SPA member Mark Hardaker suggest that R CrB made be starting to fade. Apparently, it was at magnitude 7.3 at 00:02UT on 07.06.23, and according to some estimates on the AAVSO website, it had dropped to 7.6 by morning.

Hopefully, we’ll have some clear weather over the next few nights, so we can monitor the situation.

Please send any observations into the variable star section.

The annual report for 2022 is now available to download.

SPA_Annual_Report_2022

Three stars have been added to the Variable Star Section Programme: Mu Cephei, Gamma Cassiopeia and W Cygni.

Both Mu Cephei and Gamma Cassiopeia were originally on the SPA programme, and I’ve decided to reinstate them, as they are easy stars for beginners to observe.

W Cygni is also an easy star to find and observe.