COMMISSION 27 OF THE I. A. U.
           INFORMATION BULLETIN ON VARIABLE STARS
                       Number 2703

                                       Konkoly Observatory
                                       Budapest
                                       3 April 1985

                                       HU ISSN 0374 - 0676



         PHOTOELECTRIC OBSERVATIONS OF NOVA CEPHEI 1971


   Nova Cephei 1971 was discovered by Kuwano on July 10 at alpha=22h02m46.85s 
+/- 0.01s , delta=+53 deg 15' 48.2" +/- 0.1" (1950.0) with mv=8.0.
   The present photoelectric observations were carried out with the 40 cm
refractor of the Teramo Astronomical Observatory, equipped with an EMI 9502
photomultiplier.
   Our photometric data, unpublished up to now, help to fill some gaps in
the light curve in that we have observed Nova Cephei for a total of 47 nights
from July 13 up to December 17, 1971.
   The photoelectric observations of the nova and the comparison stars were
made between 1.020 and 1.337 air masses. The comparison stars are listed in
Table I, and their magnitudes were determined by comparison with several
Johnson's standard stars performed on many different nights of good quality.

                                  Table I

                                                      V            B-V
c1   BD+ 52 deg 3095                             8.73 +/- .01   0.42 +/- .02
c2   BD+ 53 deg 2778                             8.61 +/- .01   1.51 +/- .02
c3   alpha=22h02m05.3s, delta=53 deg 17'17.2"   10.69 +/- .01   0.28 +/- .01
                               (1950.0)
c4   alpha=22h02m30.0s  delta=53 deg 16'03.6"   11.54 +/- .01   0.37 +/- .02
                               (1950.0)

   The magnitudes of Nova Cephei are listed in Table II. These results are
in good agreement with the data obtained by McConnell and Thomas (1972),
Kohoutek and Klawitter (1973) and confirm that the nova can be classified as
fast because the fall of 2 magnitudes occurs in less than 25 days from July
22 to August 14.
   This consideration is confirmed by spectrophotometric studies about the
large radial velocities both of absorption and emission systems, observed by
Fehrenbach and Andrillat (1971), Bahng (1972) and Aikman et al. (1973).
   During the transition stage starting after July 22 some oscillations
are noticeable with decreasing amplitudes up to August 23.



                       Table II

  U.T. Date   V             U.T. Date   V             U.T. Date    V

   1971                     1971                       1971

Jul.13.88   8.20 +/-.01   Aug. 3.94   9.44 +/-.01   Aug.29.05   10.91
    14.92   8.35               5.88   9.47              30.93   10.87
    15.89   8.44               6.89   9.85          Sep.11.84   11.11
    16.84   8.64              10.89  10.13              18.79   11.22
    17.99   8.63              12.89  10.54              23.78   11.47
    19.86   8.71              13.95  10.55              24.77   11.48
    21.90   8.68              14.92  10.69          Oct. 8.78   12.02
    22.99   8.59              15.87  10.71              18.81   12.21
    25.97   9.31              16.88  10.78              20.79   12.13
    26.94   9.29              17.86  10.69              22.80   11.94
    27.99   9.55              18.86  10.70              25.81   12.21
    29.91   9.83              19.91  10.80          Nov.12.72   12.30
    30.93   9.94              20.86  10.76              16.79   12.45
    31.98   9.99              23.90  10.73          Dec.16.72   12.70
Aug. 2.00   9.68              25.86  10.80              17.77   12.66
     3.00   9.50              27.96  10.84





                                R. BURCHI and V. D'AMBROSIO
                                    64100 Teramo, Italy





References:

Aikman, G.C.L., Hilditch, R.W., Younger, F., 1973, Publ. Astron. Soc. Pacific,
      85, 756. [BIBCODE 1973PASP...85..756A ]
Bahng, F.D.R., 1972, Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc., 158, 151. [BIBCODE 1972MNRAS.158..151B ]
Fehrenbach, C., and Andrillat, Y., 1971, L'Astronomie, Dec. 1971.
Kohoutek, L., and Klawitter, P., 1973, Astron. Astrophys. Suppl. Ser, 11, 347. [BIBCODE 1973A&AS...11..347K ]
Kuwano, Y., 1971, IAU Circ., No. 2340. [BIBCODE 1971IAUC.2340....1K ]
McConnell, D.J., and Thomas, J.C., 1972, IBVS, No. 706.