COMMISSION 27 OF THE I. A. U.
         INFORMATION BULLETIN ON VARIABLE STARS
                      NUMBER 800

                                        Konkoly Observatory
                                        Budapest
                                        1973 June 2



               OBSERVATIONS OF W COMAE BERENICES


    W Comae Berenices has tentatively been identified by Biraud
(1971) as related to the radio source ON 231. At the suggestion
of James Heasley at Yale, the variable star has been examined on
the plates at the Maria Mitchell Observatory (7.5-inch Cooke triplet, 
scale 248" per mm), 90 plates taken in 1964 - 1972 reaching
14.3 mag pg or fainter; and on about 40 useful plates of the Harvard
RH series (3-inch Ross-Fecker lens, scale 390" per mm) taken between
1933 and 1950.

                           [FIGURE 1]

   The step estimates carried out by Sharon Beck, a Yale student,
I have converted to approximate provisional magnitudes on the basis
of the sequence in Selected Area 56. The plot of the observations
suggests rapid and erratic changes. On three consecutive Harvard
plates of April 1938 the variable was found at 14.2 mag on JD 28990,
fainter than 15.3 on 28993, and 13.2 on 28994. The Nantucket plates
reveal a maximum range from about 14.0 to 15.8.
   W Com is probably quite similar to AP Lib, identified with the
radio source PKS 1514-24, discussed in greater detail by Biraud.

22 May 1973



                             DORRIT HOFFLEIT
                             Maria Mitchell Observatory
                             Nantucket, Mass., U.S.A.

Biraud, F. Nature, Vol. 232, p. 178, 1971. [BIBCODE 1971Natur.232..178B ]





                 V343 Ori - NEW ELEMENTS

   V343 Ori is an eclipsing variable of the W UMa type. My 
elements published for the star in 1949, Acta Astron.ser. c, v.4,118,
turned out to be incorrect. On the basis of 718 observations covering 
the period 1948 - 1960 I determined new mean elements:

            JD hel 2433599.379 + 0.809123d*E.


Cracow, May 14, 1973

                             R. SZAFRANIEC
                             Astronomical Observatory
                             Cracow, Poland.