Variability of KR Aur on February 23, 2017.

KR Aur - February 23, 2017

Fig.1:  Large variability of KR Aur in UBV bands on February 23, 2017. 

Since 2008, the cataclysmic variable star KR Aur is in deep minimum state with a short brightening in 2010. We performed photometric monitoring 
in 12 nights during the period August 2016 - February 2017 with the telescopes of Rozhen (Bulgaria),
Belogradchik (Bulgaria) and Vidojevica (Serbia).

In the light curves obtained in August, October and November 2016 are visible variations on a time scale of e 1 hour with peak-to-peak amplitude
0.3 magnitudes, which is typical for KR Aur in low state. However on November 4, 2016 the amplitude in V band was considerably higher - 1.1 magnitude.
On February 22, 2017 the variability was with amplitude 0.2 mag in V band.

On February 23, 2017 we obtained average magnitude V = 17.14 (+/- 0.02) and an amplitude of about 2.1 magnitudes in UBV bands (see Fig. 1).
This is the highest amplitude in our observations of short-term variability of KR Aur. We estimate average colours U-B=-1.08 and B-V=-0.12.

It seems that the mass transfer rate in the system starts to increase and probably the luminosity will rise to high state soon.