Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams
IAUC 3352: NOVALIKE OBJECT IN Vul; X Per
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Circular No. 3352
Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams
INTERNATIONAL ASTRONOMICAL UNION
Postal Address: Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams
Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, Cambridge, MA 02138, U.S.A.
TWX 710-320-6842 ASTROGRAM CAM Telephone 617-864-5758
NOVALIKE OBJECT IN VULPECULA
M. H. and W. Liller, Center for Astrophysics, report the
following blue magnitudes (to +/- 0.2 magnitude) from plates in the
Harvard College Observatory's Damon Patrol series:
1977/78 UT Mag. 1978 UT Mag. 1978 UT Mag.
Oct. 7.0 [14 July 1.2 10.9 Oct. 3.0 9.8
Nov. 2.0 12.5 27.2 10.1 Nov. 3.0 9.7
Dec. 12.0 12.5 Sept. 2.2 10.0 26.0 9.5
May 31.3 11.4 25.1 9.7
Other plates back to 1967 indicate that the object was fainter than
magnitude 14. Other patrol plates, extending from 1898 to 1956,
show the object generally at mpg ~ 16.0-16.5, possibly rising to
mpg ~ 15 on occasions, notably in 1926 and 1955. The object
appears on the Palomar Sky Survey twice, at mpg ~ 16. 5 in 1951 July
and mpg ~ 14.5 in 1956 July (which presumably explains the apparent
discordance between the Mochnacki and Ishida reports on IAUC 3350).
X PERSEI
J. D. Dorren, Biruni Observatory; and E. F. Guinan and G. P.
McCook, Villanova Observatory, write: "Photoelectric observations
of X Per obtained at Biruni and Villanova Observatories, when
combined with other photoelectric data back to 1964, show that the
star has undergone three light increases of ~ 0.6 magnitude at 6-yr
intervals. Earlier visual observations made by Kempf and Muller
(1916, Astron. Nachr. 202, 330) also suggest the same pattern with
a somewhat longer ~ 7-yr period. The last maximum (V = 6.33)
occurred during early 1978. Between 1974 Apr. and 1977 Mar. the star
remained nearly constant at V = 6.70. Our most recent observation
(1979 Apr. 7.03 UT, V = 6.77) suggests that the brightness is still
declining. This is the faintest the star has been since 1904, when
it fell to magnitude 6.90. If the light changes behave as in the
past, we expect the decline in light to continue until the end of
1979 and then level off near V = 6.9, remaining at this level for
3 yr before undergoing another light increase. There appears to be
a similarity between the photometric behavior of X Per and symbiotic
stars as well as slow recurrent novae. The major photometric,
spectroscopic and x-ray data appear to be consistent with a binary
system with an O9V primary and a neutron-star companion in an orbit of
period ~ 581 days."
1979 May 1 (3352) Brian G. Marsden
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