COMMISSION 27 OF THE I.A.U.
              INFORMATION BULLETIN ON VARIABLE STARS
                           Number 1202

                                                    Konkoly Observatory
                                                    Budapest
                                                    1976 November 10 


           SPECTROSCOPIC OBSERVATIONS OF 53 Ari

53 Arietis (HD 19374) is frequently listed as a "confirmed"
member of the Beta Cephei (Beta CMa) class of pulsating variable stars.
It has been studied spectroscopically by Blaauw and van Albada
(1963), Munch and Flather (1957) and van Hoof and Blaauw (1964).
All studies find radial velocity variations of a few km/sec.
The latter two consider it to be a short period Delta Cephei variable 
(P=~4 h), but the former considers any period present to be
around 40 days. Bondal (1967) and Jerzykiewicz (1974) have studied 
53 Arietis photometrically. Bondal claims to find variations
of 0.03 to 0.07 magnitudes. Jerzykiewicz finds no variation on
any one night greater than 0.002m and concludes that the star is
constant in light.
   In the present study, 53 Arietis was followed spectroscopically 
over one cycle (3h37m) of its suspected variation on
October 2-3, 1975. All plates were taken with the 1.88 m telescope 
of the David Dunlap Observatory on IIa-O emulsions at
12A/mm. The average exposure time of the plates is 15.5 minutes.
The velocities are listed in Table 1 and shown in Figure 1.
   In order to determine whether any systematic variation
exists in these data, an F-test was performed (Heard 1956). The
probability exceeds 25% that the amount of variability seen in
the velocities did indeed arise by chance. If the velocity variations 
found in previous studies are significant they must be due
to a long term variation with a period of at least a month.

   This work has been supported by a postgraduate scholarship 
from the National Research Council of Canada.


                            M. C. LANE

                        University of Toronto
                        60 St. George Street,
                       Toronto, Ontario, Canada



                 Table 1

    Radial Velocities of 53 Arietis

  Julian Date    Velocity   Probable Error
(Heliocentric)   (km/sec)      (km/sec)

 2442688+
  .782             21.9          1.3
  .793             21.0          0.8
  .803             20.7          1.0
  .813             22.3          1.4
  .823             22.7          0.8
  .833             21.2          0.9
  .843             22.0          0.9
  .853             22.4          1.5
  .863             21.7          1.0
  .875             22.2          1.2
  .898             22.6          0.9
  .909             23.4          0.8
  .921             22.8          0.9


                       [FIGURE 1]

   Figure 1 - Radial velocity versus Julian date for 53 Arietis.





References:

Blaauw, A. and van Albada, T.S. 1963, Ap.J., 137, 791 [BIBCODE 1963ApJ...137..791B ]
Bondal, K.R. 1967, Observatory, 87, 22 [BIBCODE 1967Obs....87..220B ]
Heard, J.F. 1956, P.D.D.O., 2, 107 [BIBCODE 1956PDDO....2..107H ]
Jerzykiewicz, M. 1974, P.A.S P., 86, 43 [BIBCODE 1974PASP...86...43J ]
Munch, G. and Flather, E. 1957, P.A.S.P., 69, 142 [BIBCODE 1957PASP...69..142M ]
Van Hoof, A.and Blaauw, A. 1964, B.A.I.N., 17, 451 [BIBCODE 1964BAN....17..451V ]