Thanks to the Las Cumbres Observatory images, we are now starting to see the 
complex shape of the normal rotational lightcurve. With such structure, it 
should be child's play to solve the rotation period if we manage to secure 
another 2 month's of data. The amplitude looks to be ~0.18 mag, which being 
relatively small should also simplify matching the later data to what we 
already have.

A 90% illuminated Moon passes just 3-4 degrees from Lipperta on Feb 8.1 and 
Full Moon returns on Feb 11.0. If you are planning on imaging then it is 
best to choose a short enough exposure such that the sky background remains 
around 5000 counts, no more, and to stack plenty of frames to enable the SNR 
to reach what we need for the project. You should also only attempt imaging 
if you have a properly clear sky on hand. No point in trying otherwise. 
Hopefully LCO will do the business despite the close Moon. We shall see.

Finally, we have to say goodbye to Dave Storey, as he is dropping out of 
this particular campaign. The reason is that although he has use of the Isle 
of Man Astrosoc 0.4-m scope and the CCD camera is equipped with a nice V 
filter, the camera itself is an SBIG ST-9E dating from 2004 and is a fairly 
rare example of one having a non-linear response. This becomes apparent if 
you use Astrometrica to plate solve but you do it using stars in different 
magnitude ranges, e.g. 12.0-14.0, 13.0-14.5; 13.5-15.0; 14.0-15.5; 
14.5-16.0; and 15.0-16.0. In theory if the camera is linear then the frame 
zeropoint should remain relatively constant, say to within +/-0.02 mag. It's 
quite a severe test and works best if there are plenty of stars in the field 
of view.

Clear skies,
Richard

2017 Feb 05 11:00