AAVSO NEWS FLASH - No. 8

              THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF VARIABLE STAR OBSERVERS
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                        * * *  AAVSO NEWS FLASH  * * *

Subject: DI UMa, ER UMa, HL CMa                     No. 8
                                                    March 27, 1996

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DI URSAE MAJORIS

We have been informed by T. Kato and the Ouda team (Japan) via vsnet-alert 
#374 that the observations at Ouda station indicate that the dwarf nova 
type (SU UMa subclass) cataclysmic variable DI UMa is undergoing a bright 
outburst.  The Ouda team reports that their time resolved V-band CCD 
photometry on March 25/26 revealed superhumps with a period of 79.9 minutes,
establishing this star to be a SU UMa star with ultrashort orbital period.

The AAVSO d and e scale charts of DI UMa are available on our FTP site:

             ftp.aavso.org(198.116.78.2), in /pub/charts
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ER URSAE MAJORIS

The outburst of ER UMa (see AAVSO News Flash No. 7) continues as indicated 
by the following observation:

    UT             JD        Mag.     Observer

MAR 26.810    2450169.31     12.5     (L. T. Jensen, Denmark)

I thank my colleague Paula Szkody for informing us that ER UMa is indeed 
an SU UMa type star.  It is the third member of a group (namely ER UMa, 
RZ LMi, V1159 Ori and now DI UMa) that have supercycles that are very short.  
They have observed superhumps during their superoutbursts and orbital periods 
below the period gap.  The characteristic of this group is the short (18 - 45 
days) interval between superoutbursts in comparison to hundreds of days for 
the rest of SU UMa stars. 

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HL CANIS MAJORIS

The dwarf nova type (Z Cam subclass) cataclysmic variable HL CMa is in 
outburst as indicated by the following observations:

    UT             JD        Mag.     Observer

MAR 13.024    2450155.524    12.5     (J. McKenna, USA)            
MAR 22.1507   2450164.6507  <13.0     (W. Dillon, USA)            
MAR 23.1097   2450165.6097  <13.0     (Dillon)            
MAR 26.822    2450169.322    11.8     (L. T. Jensen, Denmark)            
MAR 27.0368   2450169.5368   11.9     (M. Dombrowski, USA)            
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Please monitor these stars closely and phone-in, fax, or e-mail your 
observations to the AAVSO.  

CCD observers are particularly encouraged to monitor the outbursts of 
DI UMa and ER UMa (recommended every three minutes) in search of superhumps.  


Good observing!
Janet A. Mattei

________________________________________________________________________________

AAVSO NEWS FLASH is a new electronic publication of the AAVSO intended
to provide observers with timely information on unusual variable star
activity.  The basis of the data in this publication will be the
observations reported to AAVSO Headquarters.

The AAVSO NEWS FLASH will not replace the AAVSO Alert Notice.  It will
be more frequent and shorter.

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We look forward to including your observations in future editions
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