7th mag.: major outburst of eruptive EX Lupi!

"The pre main-sequence eruptive variable EX Lup [...] appears to be undergoing a major outburst, exceeding the previous brightest maximum recorded in 1955," reports the AAVSO: "Albert Jones (Nelson, NZ) reports that EX Lup reached a visual magnitude of 7.9 on 2008 Jan 29.66 UT [...]. This exceeds the previous brig[h]test recorded magnitude of this object (m(vis) = 8.7 [...]) in 1955-56." EX Lupi is the prototype of the "EXor" class, which are pre-main-sequence variables that normally remain at minimum light, but are subject to relatively brief (a few months to a few years) flare-ups of several magnitudes amplitude; the current outburst had first been reported a week ago.