COMMISSION 27 OF THE I. A. U.
	 INFORMATION BULLETIN ON VARIABLE STARS
		     Number 2641


				   Konkoly Observatory
				   Budapest
				   11 December 1984

				   HU ISSN 0374 - 0676





	 POSITION AND DISTANCE OF NOVA VULPECULAE 1984




  The position of Nova Vul 1984 was measured on a plate taken with the new
60 cm Ritchey-Chretien f/8 telescope of the Hoher List Observatory.
18 AGK 3 stars were used. Third order terms were taken into account. The
result,

 alpha_1950= 19h24m03.442s +-0.013s  delta_1950= +27d15'54"50 +- 0.26"

is in good agreement with the results published by Argyle (1984) and Kosai
and Huruhata (1984). As already noted by Shao (1984), the nova coincides with
an oval object on the POSS, which is certainly a blend of several stars (see
Fig. 1). Its minor diameter yields upper limits for the brightness of the
prenova: B=16.3m, R=16.8m.
  Furthermore, it was attempted to determine the distance and absolute 
magnitude of the nova. Two Cassegrain spectra (31 A/mm), taken with the 1.06m.
telescope of the Hoher List Observatory, were analyzed with the PDS 2020GM in
Munster. The interstellar Ca II H line is severely blended with the stellar
H and H epsilon absorption lines, the Ca II K line has an equivalent 
width of 0.39A.
According to distance calibrations by Binnendijk (1952), Beals and Oke (1953),
and Allen (1973), the distance of the nova is about 1.2 kpc.
  The nova, whose galactic coordinates are l = 61.098d and b= + 5.197d, lies
in field 267 of Neckel's and Klare's (1980) study of interstellar absorption.
 A_V = 1.4m can be assumed
  The maximum apparent magnitude, m_V= 6.3m, thus leads to an absolute 
magnitude M_V= - 5.5m, somewhat fainter than the mean absolute magnitude of slow
novae.

                             [FIGURE 1]

Figure 1  The field of Nova Vulpeculae 1984. The prenova is marked on this 
reproduction of the Palomar Observatory Sky blue plate. The field size is 
15'x15', north is up.


				H.W. DUERBECK, M. GEFFERT, B. NELLES
				Observatorium Hoher List
				der Universitats-Sternwarte Bonn
				5568 Daun, F.R.G.

				R. DUMMLER, M. NOLTE
				Atsronomisches Institut
				der Universitat Munster
				Domagkstrasse 75
				4400 Munster, F.R.G.

References:

Allen, C.W. 1973, Astrophysical Quantities (3rd edition), London: Athlone Press  [BIBCODE 1973asqu.book.....A ]
Argyle, R., 1984, IAU Circ 3964 [BIBCODE 1984IAUC.3964....1A ]
Beals, C.S., Oke, J.B., 1953, Mon.Not.R.astr.Soc. 113, 530 [BIBCODE 1953MNRAS.113..530B ]
Binnendijk, L., 1952, Astrophys. J. 115, 428 [BIBCODE 1952ApJ...115..428B ]
Kosai, H., Huruhata, H., 1984, IAU Circ. 3968 [BIBCODE 1984IAUC.3968....1K ]
Neckel, Th., Klare G., 1980, Astr.Astrophys.Suppl. 42, 251 [BIBCODE 1980A&AS...42..251N ]
Shao, C.Y., 1984, IAU Circ. 3964 [BIBCODE 1984IAUC.3964....1A ]