Proposal #125

Y Per is a unique star which is has been exhibiting unusual changes since its behavior suddenly switched from acting like a Mira to an SR. I believe this star will continue to gain interest by professional astronomers as it continues to evolve, similar to T UMI. The star is well covered by visual astronomers; however, multi-ban color photometry is lacking. Several years ago 1 observer consistently took B and V images, but that has fallen off. I looking at this data, I noticed B-V could be increasing; however, the observations were too sparse to determine if a real correlation exist. I would like to start BVRI photometry at 4 day intervals.

I would also like to start BVRI photometry of RS CNC at 4 day intervals. This star was listed on the BSMs list of northern hemisphere targets; however, I did not see much photometry in the AID, so if images are being taken but not processed, I’ll take those one. There are currently no observations of this star in filters other than V. This star is currently subject to intense research and scrutiny by professions, but in IR and radio. The interest is with its circumstellar shell and its elongated H1 (21cm) tail (only other stars we have seen this is X Her and Mira) as well as modeling how the axi-symmetry and double mode velocity winds developed. Adding the visual wavelength data to the radio and IR should be beneficial.

The results will be used as follow-ups to recent LPV of the month articles written (and one being written) on these stars.

Thanks,
Rich Roberts (RRIA)