News – Variable stars observer DPV

Telescope hosting Piconcillo

The construction of the telescope hosting facility in Piconcillo, Andalusia, is entering its final phase. During February and March 2026, we plan to build the two scheduled pavilions so that, shortly after Easter, they will be ready to host the first clients’ telescopes.

Variable stars in 2025

The planned outburst of the recurrent nova T CrB has still not occurred. There are, however, plenty of interesting phenomena in the sky and likewise many activities by the members of the common Section of Variable Stars and Exoplanets of the Slovak Astronomical Society at the Slovak Academy of Sciences and the Slovak Astronomical Union (hereafter the Section). As usual, I will divide the report into a part dealing with events in the sky and a part summarizing the efforts of astronomers on Earth to understand what the signals from the Universe are telling us.

Andalusia

One of the main findings that the Z Cam campaign brought is that collecting enough data in Central Europe takes a great deal of time due to the small number of usable nights. A second point is that it is still unclear to what extent data taken in places with light pollution are usable. The response to these facts is to place telescopes in a better location. What follows is information about the steps recently taken in this direction.

Variable stars in 2024

Like nearly all stellar astronomers, the members of the Section of Variable Stars and Exoplanets of the Slovak Astronomical Society at the Slovak Academy of Sciences and the Slovak Union of Astronomers (hereafter “the Section”) eagerly awaited the eruption of the recurrent nova T CrB predicted for 2024. They did not merely wait passively but had prepared photometric and spectroscopic detectors. They regularly monitored the object. But the eruption has not occurred yet. Nevertheless, recurrent novae and novae in general form an important part of this report. An interesting activity has emerged – a campaign that unexpectedly connects variable star observers with astrophotographers.

Madeira 2024

I visited Madeira 2 times this year. First visit was with my colleague from Vihorlat Observatory – Robert Adam. The main result was the installation of a dome on the terrace of the Madeira University in the Penteada campus. The Meade telescope was installed inside as well. In addition, the allsky camera was transported to UMA. The team of Marko Radeta is working on its deployment to Achada do Teixeira. For now, it is operating on the terrace by the dome.

The construction team, after the successful installation.

Variable stars in 2023

This is another in a series of reports that I began preparing on my own initiative in 2021. It has become a good custom to divide it into two parts: one celestial, about the interesting behavior of stars, and one earthly, about the activities of the members of the Section of Variable Stars and Exoplanets of SAS at SAV and SZA (hereafter “the Section”). Thus, this article may also be regarded as a report on the activities of the Section.

From the novae that erupted in 2021, attention was still drawn by the slowest one, V1405 Cas, and, paradoxically, also by the fastest nova ever, V1674 Her.