COMMISSION 27 OF THE I.A.U.
               INFORMATION BULLETIN ON VARIABLE STARS
                            Number 1476

                                                      Konkoly Observatory
                                                      Budapest
                                                      1978 September 26


       THE BELATED DISCOVERY OF NOVA Cen 1973 AND
           POSSIBLE NOVAE Car 1971 AND 1972

One certain and two possible novae have been found on 
objective-prism plates taken with the Curtis Schmidt telescope at
Cerro Tololo, Chile. The plate-filter combination is IIa-F+RG 1
at a dispersion of 420 A/mm at Halpha; the limiting red magnitude
is about 12 for the continuum of a blue star.
   Nova Cen 1973 - position: 13h10m47.9s, -57d24'50" (1950).
The two plates of this field were taken on April 23 and 25, 1973.
The spectra show little difference and are dominated by broad
Halpha emission; the total width corresponds to a velocity range of
about 1800 km/s. Other emission lines, faint and broad, are: 6678
of He I (trace), 6456 (int. 2), 6369 (int. 2) 6318 (int. 3), 6247
and 6148 (both int. 1), all of permitted Fe II multiplets 40 and 74,
except for 6318 which is unclassified. The [O I] lines, 6300 and
6364, may be present but are blended with the iron lines. The
continuum corresponds to V about 11. It was probably a slow nova
taken while in the diffuse enhanced stage. Figure 1 is a chart
of the region 10 arcmin on a side drawn by hand from a low-dispersion 
infrared plate. There are two infrared plates available, taken
March 5, 1970 and April 6, 1972, reaching approximate infrared 
limiting magnitude 12.5 which show no image at the nova position. We
have one other red prism plate of the region taken on June 2, 1968
which shows nothing at the position. W. Liller, Center for Astrophysics, 
informs us that Ms. L. Chaisson has searched Patrol plates
taken in 1970 and in April 1978 and finds nothing at this position
down to 15th magnitude. N. Sanduleak, Warner and Swasey Observatory, 
has examined the plate collection at that observatory and
also reports nothing at this position.

    Possible Nova Car 1971- position: 10h37m59s, -62d58'33" (1950.).
This object shows only strong Halpha emission on a plate taken Feb. 18,
1971 but shows nothing in a deeper prism plate taken thirteen months later.
The total width of Halpha corresponds to a velocity range of about
1200 km/s. Its position is shown in Fig. 2 which has the same 
characteristics as Fig. 1 except for the scale.

   Possible Nova Car 1972- position: 10h36m35s, -62d52'52" (1950).
Figure 2 also shows the position of this object some 11 arcmin from
the possible Nova Car 1971. It also shows only strong Halpha emission
on a plate taken on March 22,1972 but nothing on the Feb. 1971
plate mentioned above. The width of Halpha can be interpreted as a
velocity range of about 1200 km/s. The deep, low-dispersion infrared 
plate from which Fig. 2 was made shows nothing at the position
of either Carina object.

                      [FIGURE 1]

     Figure 1. Identification chart for nova Cen 1973
     drawn by hand from a low-dispersion infrared plate.
     The bright star at the western edge is CoD -56d4842,

                      [FIGURE 2]

     Figure 2. Identification chart for possible Novae 
     Car 1971 and 1972 with characteristics of Fig. 1
     except for the scale. The bright star in the 
     NW corner is CoD -62d470. 


                         D. JACK MacCONNELL
                         ELIAS PRATO C.
                         CESAR BRICENO A.
                         CIDA
                         Apartado 264
                         Merida, Venezuela