The Be Star Newsletter, Volume 40 - August 2009

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A new bright outburst of the Be star mu Centauri Sebastián A. Otero Asociación Cielo Sur - Grupo Wezen 1 88, Buenos Aires, Argentina email:  varsao@hotmail.com Received: 2009 July 2 After several years of relatively low activity in the visual band, mu Centauri woke up in 2006 with a bright outburst (V=3.08) (Otero, 2006). Another outburst took place a year later reaching V=3.13 (Otero, 2007). After being in a very faint quiescent state (mean magnitude between V=3.5 and 3.6 just prior ot the current outburst), mu Cen has rapidly risen to a new maximum. The most recent visual observations by S. Otero are: 2009, June 13.240, V=3.54 2009, June 13.985, V=3.55 2009, June 22.906, V=3.52 2009, June 24.996, V=3.52 2009, June 25.912, V=3.51 2009, June 28.057, V=3.28 2009, July 02.164, V=3.20 Mu Centauri light curve since January 2009 including the current outburst. Visual observations by Otero. Updated lightcurves of this and past outbursts: http://ar.geocities.com/varsao/Curva_Mu_Cen.htm Confirmatory spectroscopic observations are encouraged. References: Otero, S. 2006, The Be Star Newsletter, Vol. 38 http://www.astro.virginia.edu/~dam3ma/benews/volume38/whap/otero0.html Otero, S. 2007, The Be Star Newsletter, Vol. 39 http://www.astro.virginia.edu/~dam3ma/benews/volume39/whap/otero0.html