I’ve been observing KK Aurigae for some six weeks or so. It is situated close to YY Aurigae, a star I am observing for a programme on neglected Miras together with some fellow Swedish amateurs, and sometimes it ends up in the same CCD frame as YY Aurigae.
The star doesn’t behave according to what the catalogues state. It should, by now, be drifting downwards in magnitude after a maximum in late January. Instead, it is rising towards a maximum, who knows when.
The star was discovered by M. Popowa in the early 1960’s, following her analysis of the Sonneberg plate stacks1. Her elements referred to a maximum in 1934 and a period of 297.4 days. The catalogues, both GCVS and VSX, still use these elements; the star hasn’t been much studied since it was discovered.
- M. Popowa, “40 Neue Veränderliche,” Astronomische Nachrichten 286 (January 1, 1961): 81 [↩]
