Astroalert News
Michael Mattiazzo(Wallaroo,
South Australia) reports that the variable star in the Large Magellanic
Cloud (LMC), namely LMC V3804, has remarkably brighter than usual.
LMC V3804 is a Wolf-Rayet star, very massive star whose hydrogen
envelope had been blown off, and is considered to be an immediate
precursor to a supernova. Mattiazzo reports that LMC V3804 has
attained a magnitude of 9.0 on 2001 April 28.60 UT.
This brightening
makes LMC V3804 one of the few brightest stars in the LMC, even
surpassing some of novae discovered in the LMC. LMC V3804 is located
in the region of NGC 2070, a famous, bright diffuse nebula, and
the region produced a naked-eye supernova in 1987, SN 1987A. Fraser
Farrell notes that the field looked normal on March 30. No one
knows whether the present activity of LMC V3804 may lead to a
more energic event, and further observations are strongly recommended.
Examination of photographs in the near past may be useful in tracking
back the activity of this star.
LMC V3804
is located at 05h 38h 42.4s, -69o 06' 02" (J2000.0)
We have been
undertaking on photometric campaigns on several super- outbursting
dwarf novae and peculiar variable stars like WR104. News and call
for observations on these objects will be issued on our regular
weekly "News from VSNET" bulletins.
http://www.kusastro.kyoto-u.ac.jp/vsnet/.
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