The November 2003 superoutburst of UV Per

Below is a compilation of my November 2003 CCD observations of UV Per. All CCD images (unfiltered) have been acquired at CBA Belgium Observatory, using an ST-7 CCD and 0.35-m f/6.3 telescope. Photometric conditions were as follows :

2003, November 04/05 : good
2003, November 10/11 : poor (cirrus clouds)
2003, November 11/12 : good
2003, November 14/15 : good

Resulting light curves are listed below. During our first night of observations (2003, Nov 04/05), UV Per was still on its rise to maximum, and no modulations were present in the light curve. After returning from a business trip, I continued to observe UV Per, an my observations of Nov 10/11 clearly revealed the presence of well-developed superhumps in this system. Also the following nights were dominated by superhump modulations.

On the basis of the Nov 10/11, 11/12 and 14/15, 2003 observations, I determined a superhump period of 95.76 +/- 0.05 mins, a value that is well in agreement with initial results derived by the AAVSO (see http://www.aavso.org/tmp/uvper.shtml) from a much larger sample of observations. It also fits with the 1989 outburst superhump period value, published by Udalski and Pych (1992), of 95.6 +/- 0.000038 mins. The orbital period of UV Per is 93.44 mins, and was determined by Thorstensen and Taylor (1997, PASP, 109, 1359). Please note that the orbital period of 89.6 mins, published by Kato in 1990, is erroneous.