epsilon Aurigae Newsletters (1982-1985)

Here is a list of all epsilon Aurigae campaign newsletters, including those from the 1983 and 2009 eclipses, in chronological order. I also provide a brief summary of each newsletter.

1982-1984 #1

Issue: Jan 1982

Summary: Brief summary of the expectations for the 1982-1984 eclipse, campaign announcement, and sign up form.

Summary: Reports on the first photometric observations showed a dip of 0.1 magnitude in advance of the eclipse that turned out to be the out-of-eclipse variations. Spectroscopic observations at UV, optical, and infrared wavelengths are discussed. A concrete proposal for eps Aur photometric observations is established.

1982-1984 #3

Issue: June 1982

Summary: Photometric observations from Villanova U. and other PEP observers are coming in. The recent campaign request for additional photometric observations at the LAPP symposium at Big Bear were successful and many new PEP observers have signed on. Additional spectroscopic data have been obtained that show a correlation between the out-of-eclipse variations and changes seen in the UV continuum. A series of UV spectra using IUE have been scheduled for the summer/fall 1982. A detailed report summarizing the eps Aur system by James R. Webb was included in this issue.

1982-1984 #4

Issue: October 1982

Summary: The IAU Commission 42 (Close Binary Stars) has voted this series of eps Aur campaign newsletters to be the official newsletter for coordination of observing efforts. Three separate observatories (West College Observatory, Hopkins Phoenix Observatory, and the Mount Laguna Observatory) are now reporting PEP observations. Photometry on the 1982 eclipse of a related eclipsing system, 31 Cygni, are reported. Tom Ake discusses IUE observations of eps Aur. Several photometric reports were submitted from U. Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Georgia College Observatory, Lines Observatory, and the Hopkins Phoenix observatory.

NOTE: This and subsequent issues of the newsletter have been passed through an optical character recognition engine thus it should be searchable.

1982-1984 #5

Issue: December 1982

Summary: Russel Genet has received a modest grant from the AAS to support continued publication of this newsletter. Robert Stencel has compiled a light curve from the IUE star tracker which agrees with other observers indicating that the eclipse has started. John Percy requests that observers obtain a photometric estimate every week or so to better characterize the out-of-eclipse variations. Robert Stencel provides a short report on the ongoing IUE observations. Dr. Parthasarathy’s spectroscopy shows that neutral potassium increased substantially during ingress. Some discussion concerning the photometry and spectroscopy of the 31 Cyg eclipse is presented.

1982-1984 #6

Issue: February 1983

Summary: Eclipse totality has begun. Gary Henson and others report in IAU circular No. 3759 that a sudden change in polarization of eps Aur between 1982 Nov. 24 and Dec. 9 has been detected. Jack Kemp has written a detailed summary of these observations for this newsletter. Several other IAU circulars are presented. A request for photometric observations of 32 Cyg and Zet Aur has been presented. The IUE star tracker photometry estimate has been updated. Several photometric reports are presented. Spectroscopic observations in the infrared have revealed a source of ~600 K, suggesting a cool object with a well organized core may be causing the eclipse.

1982-1984 #7

Issue: May 1983

Summary: The eclipse continues to progress on schedule. Photometric observation reports for eps Aur, zet Aur, and 31 Cyg continue to amass. Additional observing time on IUE has been allocated for the eps Aur campaign. Polarimetry observations have continued as well as several spectroscopic observing campaigns.

1982-1984 #8

Missing. I don’t have a copy of this document.

1982-1984 #9

Issue: November 1983

Summary: This (significantly larger) report includes summaries of the campaign efforts, an announcement of flare activity in eps Aur, and a large repository of photometric data. Another polarimetry report from James Kemp et al. has been submitted discussing their interpretation of the eclipse.

Note: This issue has not been digitized and is not in machine-searchable format.