COMMISSION 27 OF THE I. A. U.
        INFORMATION BULLETIN ON VARIABLE STARS
                     NUMBER 559

                                 Konkoly Observatory
                                 Budapest
                                 1971 June 8


       ON THE SPECTRUM OF THE SERPENS VARIABLE

      Stienon (1971) has reported the finding of a peculiar
variable star in Serpens. In the past the star has not shown
any variability in its brightness as well as in its spectrum.
Therefore, several alternatives with regards to its nature
has been put forward by Stienon.
      On the Bosscha Schmidt plates that were taken for
purposes of spectral classification of stars in Serpens, we
can easily identify the spectrum of the variable. The 
purpose of this report is to outline the appearance of the
spectrum taken on IIa-O plates which were exposed for 60 
minutes. The 6deg-objective prism yields a dispersion of
312A/mm at H-gamma. A limiting magnitude of 12.6 (photographic) 
was reached in the surveys that were carried out
on 3 different nights in May 1971 (May 22, UT=17: 57;
May 24, UT = 22:04; May 26, UT = 19:20). In addition to
these plates, an 1N plate was exposed behind. an RG 8 filter
for 15 minutes (May 26, UT = 20:05) to record the infrared
spectral regions.
      A visual inspection of the plates reveals the
following information: At the given position of the variable,
the spectrum that was observed on May 22 shows a trace of
emission lines at H-delta and H-epsilon. The absorption
features suggest that the spectrum belongs to the spectral
class later than K5. On the other plates these features,
but the emission lines, remained the same. The brightness,
as can be judged from their spectral densities on various
plates, does not indicate any variation. In addition, there
is no indication that the star can be later than M 1 (on Mt.
Wilson scale), as otherwise the TiO bands should be easily
recognized on our infrared plate.
       As Stienon has suggested, more observations of this
star are needed, but the present observation suggests that
the star is similar to Popper's flare star, in the sense
that it may be a flare star whose spectrum does not belong
to the dM group.

May 29, 1971                BAMBANG HIDAJAT
                            Bosscha Observatory
                            Lembang, Indonesia


Reference:
Stienon, Francis M, 1971, Inf.Bull.Var.Star no. 545.