COMMISSION 27 OF THE I.A.U.
       INFORMATION BULLETIN ON VARIABLE STARS
                    NUMBER 108


                                     Konkoly Observatory
                                     Budapest
                                     18 October 1965


           THE PERIOD OF THE SPECTROSCOPIC
           BINARY AND MAGNETIC STAR HD 8441



  The period of 2.9632day announced by Steinitz (Information
Bulletin on Variable Stars No. 101) for the magnetic variations
of HD 8441 ( Alpha =1h 21m 23s, Delta= +42deg 53', A2p, No. 3
in Babcock's catalog Ap.J. Suppl. 3, 141, 1958) cannot be
considered as definitely established. There are only 13 measured
values of H_e, spread over an interval of about 5y i.e. more than
600 times that period. In fact, it is not confirmed by the eye-
estimated signs of H_e on the non-measured plates. Moreover it is
in disagreement with the period-line-width relation, the lines
being  ultra-sharp (w = 0.08 A ).

                          [FIGURE 1]

    On the other hand, the measured radial velocities give a
 period of 106.27 +- 0.03 day for the orbital motion, with
 gamma = + 10 km/sec and 2K = 53 km/sec. A slight correlation with
 the phase computed according to this period seems to exist both
 for the measured values and for the estimated polarities of the
 magnetic field.



                           P. RENSON
                       Institut d'Astrophysique
                        Universite de Liege
                          Liege, Belgium