(CCD image by courtesy of G. Masi)
(Discovery of superhumps by Gianluca Masi, Alessia Cassetti)
(Superhumps by Gordon Garradd)
(Discovery of superhumps by Gianluca Masi, Alessia Cassetti)
(Superhumps by Gordon Garradd)
P. Schmeer detected the first ever recorded outburst (15mag) on February 5 (vsnet-alert 4118). The object was selected as an optical counterpart of the ROSAT source. The optical spectrum suggests a dwarf nova, and was proposed for further monitoring. The quiescent magnitude was reported as 18, but the V-band photometry at the Ouda station set an upper limit of 18.3 (vsnet-alert 4124). A V-band CCD chart was issued as [vsnet 889]. G. Masi and A. Cassetti performed CCD time-series photometry on February 5 and confirmed the outburst (vsnet-alert 4119). They presented a CCD image of the field at: http://www.eurolink.it/comets/rxtau.jpg (vsnet-alert 4121). From their observation, they confirmed clear superhumps with an amplitude of about 0.4-0.5mag, which gave an evidence that RX J0459.7+1926 is a new member of SU UMa-type dwarf nova (vsnet-alert 4122, 4123).
T. Vanmunster also confirmed the presence of the superhumps (vsnet-alert 4125). Using the VSNET collaboration data (G. Masi, A. Cassetti, G. Garradd, and the Kyoto team), G. Masi reported a superhump period to be 0.07060 d (vsnet-alert 4126, 4129, 4165).