V407 Cygni

Hiroyuki Maehara, Kwasan Observatory, Kyoto University, reports the discovery by Koichi Nishiyama (Fukuoka, Japan) and Fujio Kabashima (Saga, Japan) of an apparent unusually bright outburst (mag 7.4) of the symbiotic star V407 Cyg on an unfiltered CCD image taken on Mar. 10.797 UT using a 105-mm camera lens (+ SBIG STL6303E camera). Nishiyama and Kabashima confirmed the outburst on two unfiltered CCD frames taken on Mar. 10.813 (at mag 6.8) and 10.814 (mag 6.9) using a 0.40-m reflector (+ SBIG STL1001E camera); they also report the following pre-outburst magnitudes from unfiltered CCD images using the 105-mm lens: 2008 Dec. 3.421, 12.4; 2009 Jan. 2.409, 12.5; Jan. 15.406, 12.5; Feb. 14.848, 12.5; Mar. 25.824, 12.0; Apr. 21.658, 11.2; May 24.736, 11.0; Jun. 25.702, 11.0; Aug. 7.572, 11.1; Sep. 3.667, 11.3; Oct. 3.548, 10.6; Nov. 3.465, 9.6; Dec. 3.428, 9.2; 2010 Jan. 3.413, 9.2; Jan. 17.409, 9.3; Feb. 22.834, 9.6; Feb. 23.817; Mar. 7.859, 9.8. Maehara adds that CCD images taken with a 25-cm telescope of the Kwasan Observatory yields following magnitudes: Mar. 11.8524, I_c = 5.31; 11.8525, R_c = 6.68; 11.8527, V = 7.94; 11.8531, B = 8.97. Maehara also forwards the following visual magnitude estimates: Mar. 11.836, 7.4 (K. Hirosawa, Aichi, Japan); 11.864, 7.9 (Maehara).