COMMISSION 27 OF THE I. A. U. INFORMATION BULLETIN ON VARIABLE STARS Number 2700 Konkoly Observatory Budapest 29 March 1985 HU ISSN 0374 - 0676 SPECTROSCOPIC OBSERVATIONS OF NOVA VULPECULAE 1984 NO. 1 Spectroscopic observations of Nova Vul 1984 No. 1 have been obtained with the McGraw-Hill Observatory 1.3 meter telescope. These data were taken using the intensified reticon scanner. Two scans in the blue were obtained on 1984 August 12 (UT 7h13m) and August 17 (UT 8h02m), with a resolution of ~5 A. A red scan was obtained on 1984 August 22 (UT 3h48m), also with a resolution of ~5 A. The night sky has been subtracted from the data. The blue spectral scans have properly calibrated wavelengths between lambda4046 and lambda5570 A. The scan of August 12 shows the Balmer series, Fe II lines, and the Ca II H and K lines all in emission. No absorption features are present. However, absorption features are evident on the August 17 scan. Also, on this second scan the Ca II K and Fe II emission lines are weaker compared to the Balmer series. Table I lists the measured lines together with their velocities, corrected to the sun. Figure 1 is a plot of the August 17 scan. The H_beta peak is at ~16500 counts. TABLE I MEASURED LINES AND RADIAL VELOCITIES ------------------------------------------------------------------- | August 12 |August 17 lambda(lab) Ion (mult) |---------------------------------------- | lambda(obs) v(km/s)|lambda(obs) v(km/s) ------------------------------------------------------------------- 4101.737 H_delta | 4099.01 -206 | 4099.21 -193 4173.450 Fe II (27) | 4172.17 -99 | 4173.77 +14 4233.167 Fe II (27) | 4230.71 -181 | 4231.11 -155 4340.468 H_gamma | 4340.34 -16 | 4341.79 +82 4861.332 H_beta | 4859.40 -126 | 4861.56 +5 4923.921 Fe II (42) | 4921.69 -143 | 4923.88 -11 5018.434 Fe II (42) | 5015.78 -166 | 5016.71 -112 5169.030 Fe II (42) | 5166.53 -152 | 5167.26 -112 5234.620 Fe II (49) | 5230.44 -247 | 5231.42 -192 5275.994 Fe II (49) | 5273.13 -170 | 5275.10 -60 5316.693 Fe II (48,49)| 5313.56 -184 | 5314.31 -143 ------------------------------------------------------------------- [FIGURE 1] [FIGURE 2] The red spectral scan has properly calibrated wavelengths between lambda5852 and lambda7400 A. This spectral scan shows a strong H_alpha in emission along with a very small, violet absorption feature. The full width of H_alpha extends from lambda6538 to lambda6605 A (-1151 to +1911 km/s). Other emission and absorption lines are present, but firm identifications could not be easily made. Figure 2 is a Fourier-smoothed plot of the August 22 scan. The H_alpha peak is at ~6500 counts. Various observers have reported visual estimates of the apparent magnitude of Nova Vul 1984 No. 1 to the IAU Circulars. A plot of the values from IAU Circulars Nos. 3963, 3964, 3968, 3969, 3971, and 3977 shows that the nova reached a peak brightness of ~6.3m on August 4 and then fell to ~8.3m on August 9. No further observations were reported until August 16 (~8.5m). Therefore, for both blue observations the apparent visual magnitude was about 8.5m. By the time of the red observation, the nova had fallen to ~7.8m from a second luminosity peak (~7.3m) on August 19. JAMES R. SOWELL and JOHN B. LAIRD Department of Astronomy University of Michigan Ann Arbor, MI 48109 JOHN R. THORSTENSEN Department of Physics & Astronomy Dartmouth College Hanover, NH 03755