COMMISSION 27 OF THE I. A. U.
        INFORMATION BULLETIN ON VARIABLE STARS
                      Number 928

                                   Konkoly Observatory
                                   Budapest
                                   1974 October 2


           IS 88 HER AN ECLIPSING VARIABLE ?

    Recently P. Harmanec, P. Koubsky and J. Krpata (Astr. Astroph.
33, 117. 1974) confirmed the 87-day period of 88 Her (=HD 162732)
as a spectroscopic binary. In their paper two possible models of
the system were mentioned, one having an inclination of i = 90deg.
Then eclipses could be expected at phases 0.29 and 0.80.
    Since I have observed 88 Her several times on a photometric
program of shell stars (H. Haupt and A. Schroll, Astr. Astroph.
Suppl. 15, 34. 1974) I will give the details here:

Approx. date of observation         V      B-V      U-B    Phase
1968 Feb  8.0 UT    JD 2439894d.5  6m.69  -0m.07   -0m.40   0.967
1969 Aug 14.0          2440447.5    6.68   -0.10    -0.47   0.353
1969 Aug 20.0          2440453.5    6.65   -0.11    -0.46   0.423

    At these times the star was certainly outside eclipse and
showed a constant brightness and color. Another color determination 
is from D. L. Crawford (ApJ 137, 530. 1963) who gives B-V =
-0m.15 and U-B = 0m.39. Old measurements of the Potsdam Durchmusterung 
give -- after reduction to the V-system: V = 6m.64 (mean
of two values).
    Using the velocity curve of Harmanec et al (1974) I have
computed the dates (+- 3d) of possible eclipses in the near 
future:
                   1974 Oct  26.5   Dec  9.7
                   1975 Jan  21.1   Mar  6.3
                        Apr  17.7   May 31.9
                        July 13.3   Aug 26.5
                        Oct   7.9   Nov 21.1

They should be looked for.
                                      HERMANN HAUPT
                                 University Observatory
                                  A-8010 Graz, Austria