COMMISSION 27 OF THE I. A. U.
        INFORMATION BULLETIN ON VARIABLE STARS
                     NUMBER 448


                                 Konkoly Observatory
                                 Budapest
                                 1970 July 10


     A NOVA IN THE LARGE MAGELLANIC CLOUD, BV 1261

      Nova Mensae 1968 was discovered on Bamberg plates
taken by I.Paterson with the 10 cm Aero Tessar cameras
located at Mount John University Observatory. Exposures of
60 minutes were all made with Gevaert 67 A50 plates. The
limiting magnitude on the plates is approximately m_pg=13.7.
The position of the nova is: RA =5h11.5m, D = -71 47'(1900).
The magnitudes were determined by the use of an iris photometer. 
The Argelander Step Method was used in conjunction
with the selected areas of Brun and Vehrenberg (1). The
results are given below. Plates taken with the 10-inch
Metcalf camera located at Boyden Observatory were examined
for the determination of the pre-nova magnitude. The dates
covered by the plates were from November 1965 to November
1966. These Gevaert 67 A50 plates were all 30 minute
exposures and showed the nova to be at a constant magnitude
of 15.7. Unfortunately, plates are not available for the
determination of the post-nova magnitude.


          Date      Julian Date   Magnitude

    1968 Dec.13    2440203.0174  below 13.7
         Dec.15        205.0104  below 13.7
         Dec.17        207.0000        10.9
         Dec.17        207.0451        10.9
         Dec.18        208.0069        12.2
         Dec.20        210.9826        13.0
         Dec.21        211.0278        13.0
         Jan.18        239.9549  below 13.7


      The total range in magnitudes from pre-nova to
maximum is 4.8. Assuming that the distance modulus for the
LMC is 18.7, the nova would have a pre-nova absolute
magnitude of -3.0. With the assumption that the nova was
first observed when at maximum, the nova would have attained
M_max= -7.8 which is in good agreement with the mean probable
absolute magnitude (-7.6) of the ten other LMC and SMC
novae. This value is also in good agreement with novae in
Messier 31 and for Milky Way novae with visible expanding
envelopes (2). The total number of known novae in the LMC


                     [FIGURE 1]

is now seven. The ratio of novae
in the two clouds (1:1.7) now
differs slightly from that of
planetary nebulae (1:1.5) as
given by Westerlund (3). The drop
of two magnitudes in four days is
evidence that it is a very fast
nova, One other very fast nova
has been  observed in the LMC,
N Mensae 1951. Below is a comparison 
of the characteristics of
the two novae and above the finding 
chart of nova Mensae 1968.


			m_max	 M	 Type	   Dist. from Bar
 N Mensae 1951		11.95	-7.0	very fast	0.1d
 N Mensae 1968		10.9	-7.8	very fast	2.4	



                        JOHN SIEVERS
                     Dr.Remeis Sternwarte
                       Bamberg, Germany





(1) Brun, A., and Vehrenberg, H. 1965, Atlas of Harvard-
    Groninger Selected Areas (Dusseldorf:Treugesell-Verlag) [BIBCODE 1965ahgs.book.....B ]
(2) Henize, K., Hoffleit, D., and Nail, V. McK. 1954, Proc. US
    Nat. Acad.Sci. 40 3651; Harvard Repr. No.387. [BIBCODE 1954PNAS...40..365H ]
(3) Westerlund, B.E. 1968, IAU Symp. No.34, 23. [BIBCODE 1968IAUS...34...23W ]