COMMISSION 27 OF THE I. A. U.
         INFORMATION BULLETIN ON VARIABLE STARS
                       Number 2217


                                                   Konkoly Observatory
                                                   Budapest
                                                   1982 October 21

                                                   HU ISSN 0374-0676


                        HD 205249: A NEW VARIABLE STAR


Because Bidelman and MacConnell (1973) reported Ca II H and K emission,
we suspected HD 205249 might be an RS CVn binary and therefore might show
the photometric wave characteristic of most stars of that type. According
to their table VII, mv = 8.0m and the spectral type is K1 III.
Henry and Sherlin, observing in V with the 48-inch Newtonian at Cloudcroft, 
obtained data on 4 nights between JD 2444872.7 and 2444877.7 and on
8 nights between 2445119.9 and 2445153.9. The comparison star was BD -14deg6063.
The individual differential magnitudes, corrected for differential 
extinction and transformed differentially to V of the UBV system, have been sent to
the I.A.U. Commission 27 Archive for Unpublished Observations of Variable
Stars (Breger 1979), where they are available as file no. 106.
Inspection of our data showed immediately that HD 205249 was variable,
with an amplitude of DeltaV = 0.13m. The two groups of data do not cover the 
entire light variation between maximum and minimum, but the portions covered
do indicate a period greater than about 50 days. Further analysis of the
data suggests that a period of 58 days would combine the two groups into a
smooth light curve. The figure below is a plot of the nightly means, where


                          [FIGURE 1]



DeltaV is in the sense variable minus comparison. The dots are from the second
group; the circles are the last four points moved back one cycle (58 days);
and the plusses are from the first group, moved forward four cycles (232
days).
   If this interpretation is correct, then a time of maximum would be JD
2445121 and a time of minimum would be 2445154. The slight asymmetry (faster
rise, slower decline) is consistent with the steeper slope defined by the
four points of the first group.
    The photometric period of 58 days, which we tentatively suggest, is not
firmly established, however, and should be confirmed with additional photometry. 
We have been in communication with Luis Balona and T. Lloyd Evans of
the South African Astronomical Observatory, who tell us they have been 
obtaining spectroscopic and photometric observations of this star (and all of
the stars in table VII of Bidelman and MacConnell). If radial velocity measures 
indicate HD 205249 is a binary system with an orbital period around 58
days, then it would be a long-period RS CVn binary by the definition of Hall
(1976).




                GREGORY W. HENRY
                JERRY SHERLIN

                Cloudcroft Observatory
                Cloudcroft, New Mexico 88317

                DOUGLAS S. HALL

                Dyer Observatory
                Vanderbilt University
                Nashville, Tennessee 37235





References:
Bidelman, W. P. and MacConnell, D. J. 1973, A. J. 78, 687. [BIBCODE 1973AJ.....78..687B ]
Breger, M. 1979, I.B.V.S. no. 1659.
Hall, D. S. 1976, I.A.U. Colloq. No. 29, 287. [BIBCODE 1976ASSL...60..287H ]


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