COMMISSION 27 OF THE I.A.U.
              INFORMATION BULLETIN ON VARIABLE STARS
                           Number 1204

                                                    Konkoly Observatory
                                                    Budapest
                                                    1976 November 15 


              IS THE VARIABLE WX CETI A NOVA ?

I have examined more than 300 plates of the Harvard College
Observatory Collection stretching from the year 1920 till 1951
and I have found three additional outbursts of WX Ceti. On the
Palomar Chart (1949?) it is of the 18th mg.

  1938        1939       1945       1945       1963
June 28.5    Oct.30.6   July 5.6   July 9.4   Sept.21.4
  9.45m       10.20m     13.52m     14.14m     10.5m

   Significant is that the new maximum of 1938 is much brighter 
than that of the discovery (1963); the three outbursts of mine
and that of Strohmeier (1963) together with many important not
seen observations permit to determine the cycle of the light 
variation: 450 days +- 25 days.


                           NOVAHOOD

Class:   U Geminorum   Subnova    Nova   Subsupernova   Supernova
          Nova Dwarf   Novalike

Amplitude   3-5m        7-9m     11-13m     16:-20:m    22:-26:m
Average      4m          8m       12m         18m         24m

   For the Subsupernova we have now two Novae: Nova Puppis 1942
and Nova Cygni 1975, both are with the range of 18m.
  The Table "Novahood" and the cycle of 450 days place this
variable not in the class Nova but in a group of demidecoded
U Geminorum (Dwarf Nova) or semiundecoded Nova like (Subnova).


                             SERGEI ILLAR GAPOSHKIN

                             Harvard College Observatory
                             60 Garden Street
                             Cambridge, Mass. 02138, U.S.A.



Reference:

Strohmeier, W. 1963, Inf. Bull. Var. Stars No. 47