COMMISSION 27 OF THE I. A. U.
             INFORMATION BULLETIN ON VARIABLE STARS
                        Number 2433

                                             Konkoly Observatory
                                             Budapest
                                             23 November 1983

                                             HU ISSN 0374-0676


                   A NEW PROBABLE FLARE STAR


   A new emission-line star has been detected on a baked Kodak IIIa-J
objective-prism plate (unfiltered, 75 minute exposure) taken 10 March 1981
with the Burrell Schmidt telescope at the Warner and Swasey Observatory's
Kitt Peak Station. An identification chart is provided for the star which
has 1950 coordinates of alpha = 14h 54.1m, delta = +37d 23', l = 61.8d, 
b = +61.9d.


                           [FIGURE 1]


The unwidened spectrum, at a dispersion of 1360 A mm^1 at H_gamma, shows the
Balmer series strongly in emission down to at least H9. The H and K lines
of CaII are the only other emission lines visible and no strong absorption
features are seen. Although the continuum longward of Lambda3900 is very weak,
i.e. comparable to B ~ 17 mag., the ultraviolet continuum seen down to
Lambda3400 is remarkably strong. From image diameter measurements made on the
Palomar Sky Survey prints one finds B ~ 18 mag. and R ~ 16 mag. Thus this
object has the color of a late-type star although the poorly exposed blue
continuum shows no evidence of strong TiO bands. No additional plate
material covering this star is available in our plate files. It does not
appear to be a known proper motion star which suggests mu < 0.2" yr^-1.
   The most likely explanation of these observations is that this is a
M dwarf star seen undergoing a major flare event. The TiO bands would
then be veiled and the strong ultraviolet continuum would be consistent
with an increase in U of at least three magnitudes. Photometric monitoring
and higher dispersion spectroscopy are obviously needed to confirm this
interpretation.





              N. SANDULEAK

              Warner and Swasey Observatory
              Case Western Reserve University
              Cleveland, Ohio, 44106 U.S.A.