[vsnet-alert 24819] AY Lac: new WZ Sge-type dwarf nova

[Tonny Vanmunster tonny.vanmunster@gmail.com via vsnet-alert]

Dear colleagues,

I have just finished the analysis of my unfiltered CCD observations of AY Lac, obtained on 2020, Oct 18/19 at CBA Extremadura Observatory, using a 0.40-m f/5.1 telescope and SX-46 CCD camera. 

Sky conditions did not allow me to obtain a sufficiently long run, but nevertheless the light curve clearly shows the presence of a superhump. Combined with the long time it took for superhumps to develop in this system (I observed it on nearly every night since Oct 08th, without noticing obvious periodic modulations), this establishes AY Lac as as new WZ Sge-type dwarf nova. The superhumps have an amplitude of approx. 0.22 mag. The object as at mag 15.7 (CV) on Oct 19th.

Right now (Oct 19/20), I'm clouded out in Spain, but my Belgian observatory is running another session on AY Lac. The real-time light curve confirms the superhumps. I have not yet been able to determine a sufficiently accurate period of the superhumps, but expect to do so once I will be able to combine both datasets.

I will send my observations to AAVSO, CBA and VSNET for further analysis.

Follow-up observations are recommended to refine the superhump period.

Best regards
Tonny

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Tonny Vanmunster
CBA Belgium Observatory
CBA Extremadura Observatory
www.cbabelgium.com
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