Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams
IAUC 4983: CATACLYSMIC Var IN Crv; 1989c1
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Circular No. 4983
Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams
INTERNATIONAL ASTRONOMICAL UNION
Postal Address: Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams
Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, Cambridge, MA 02138, U.S.A.
Telephone 617-495-7244/7440/7444 (for emergency use only)
TWX 710-320-6842 ASTROGRAM CAM EASYLINK 62794505
MARSDEN or GREEN@CFA.BITNET MARSDEN or GREEN@CFAPS2.SPAN
CATACLYSMIC VARIABLE IN CORVUS
D. H. Levy, Tucson, AZ, communicates the discovery by C. W.
Tombaugh of a cataclysmic variable in Corvus on a plate taken 1931
Mar. 23 with the 0.33-m A. Lawrence Lowell astrograph at Lowell
Observatory, when the star's magnitude was about 12. A search by
Levy through 260 plates in Harvard College Observatory's archives
revealed 9 other maxima on the following dates: 1932 Mar. 2, 1940
Feb. 12, 1941 Feb. 5, 1952 Apr. 21, 1971 Apr. 20, 1983 Feb. 22, 1985
Mar. 15, 1987 Mar. 6, and 1988 May 21. Levy reports another outburst
on 1990 Mar. 23.270 UT, with the star at mv = 13.6. Precise
positions measured by B. Skiff, Lowell Observatory (equinox 1950.0):
discovery plate, R.A. = 12h17m48s.38, Decl. = -18 10'27".4; Palomar
Sky Survey O exposure, 1954 Mar. 7, R.A. = 12h17m48s.64, Decl. =
-18 10'22".7 (estimated blue mag about 17-18, red mag about 19).
COMET AUSTIN (1989c1)
D. G. Schleicher and D. J. Osip, Lowell Observatory; and
P. V. Birch, Perth Observatory, report: "We have obtained gas
production rates based on aperture photometry obtained on 6 nights
between 1989 Dec. 19 and 1990 Mar. 7 using the Lowell-Perth 0.61-m
telescope, and on Mar. 14 and 15 using the Lowell 1.07-m telescope.
For mid-March, log Q(C2) = 26.6, log Q(C3) = 25.4, and log Q(CN) =
26.7 (i.e., the relative abundances are basically normal). Q(C2)
varies approximately as r**2.0 over the total observational interval;
however, during the first month the increase was much steeper than
the mean, varying as r**4, while from mid-January to early March it
varied as r**1. The March observations imply that a higher rate of
increase may have resumed. It is unclear how much, if any, of these
changes in slopes are due to short-term variability. The increase
in the dust production has been extremely shallow, with log (A f rho)
= 3.2 in mid-March (A being the albedo of the grains, f the filling
factor of the grains, and rho the radius of the field of view; cf.
A'Hearn et al. 1984, A.J. 89, 579), and showing variation as r**n
with n < 1.0 since December. These data imply a current gas-to-dust
ratio approximately 3 times higher than was observed in P/Halley at
a comparable heliocentric distance."
Total visual magnitude estimates (B = binoculars): Mar. 19.11
UT, 6.1 (A. Hale, Las Cruces, NM, 10x50 B); 22.01, 6.0 (J. E. Bortle,
Stormville, NY, 15x80 B); 23.13, 5.9 (C. S. Morris, Whitaker Peak,
CA, 20x80 B).
1990 March 23 (4983) Daniel W. E. Green
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