COMMISSION 27 OF THE I. A. U.
        INFORMATION BULLETIN ON VARIABLE STARS
                    Number 1556

                                 Konkoly Observatory
                                 Budapest
                                 1979 February 22




   A BRIGHT, SHORT PERIOD ECLIPSING VARIABLE IN TAURUS


     The star SAO 077615, not previously reported as variable,
was observed on 11 December 1978 and 1 January 1979 with an 
unfiltered S-20 photomultiplier attached to the 61 cm reflector of
the Table Mountain Observatory in Wrightwood, California. The best
composite fit of the lightcurves to one another results from 
assuming that 62 double cycles occured in 505.0 hours. The resulting 
period is 8h08m43s+-5s. A somewhat poorer, but not unreasonable 
fit can be obtained by assuming only 61 cycles occured in
the same interval, yielding a period of 8h16m43s+-5s. Figure 1
is a composite lightcurve for the former value of the period.

                         [FIGURE 1]

Open symbols are repeated data, plotted +-1 cycle from the actual
times of observation. The observations have not been corrected
for light time.
     The star is listed in the SAO catalog as m_V= 8.6 and
spectral class G0. The 1950 coordinates are given as:

                  alpha = 5h47m06s
                  delta = 26d56'58"

Figure 2 is a finding chart for the star, identified by "V".
All stars brighter than m_V~9.5 are included within the coordinate 
lines, and stars to m_V~12.5 are shown in the immediate
vicinity of the star.


                    [FIGURE 2]



                          A.W. HARRIS
                          University of California
                          at Santa Barbara
                          Santa Barbara, CA 93106

                          Permanent address:
                          Jet Propulsion Laboratory
                          Pasadena, CA 91103
                          U.S.A.