COMMISSION 27 OF THE I. A. U.
           INFORMATION BULLETIN ON VARIABLE STARS
                       Number 2879

                                          Konkoly Observatory
                                          Budapest
                                          14 March 1986

                                          HU ISSN 0374 - 0676


           THE SPECTRUM OF RS OPHIUCHI 2-1/2 YEARS

                PRIOR TO ITS RECENT OUTBURST



  On 7 August 1982 one of us (V.V.S.) obtained a 19 A/mm spectrum of RS Ophiuchi
with the three-stage image tube spectrograph on the 1.9m telescope of the Dominion
Astrophysical Observatory. The exposure is useful only for emission lines, whose wavelengths
were measured by G.W. using the Arcturus machine at the DAO.
  The emission spectrum is similar to that described by Wallerstein and Cassinelli (1968)
for RS Oph during the three-year interval prior to the 1967 outburst. Within the interval
of 4100 to 4650 A emission lines of H I, He I, Fe II and (Fe II) are present. The hydrogen
line emission is not nearly as strong observed in 1964 and 1967. Radial velocities are: H I,
-51 km/s; HeI, -31 km/s; Fe II, -60 +- 4 km/s (n = 15); [FeII], -38 km/s. The
Fe II lines show significantly negative velocities as compared to the other lines, as seen in
1961-64 and to a lesser extent in 1966 and 1967 (Wallerstein and Cassinelli, 1968).
  In summary, it appears that the spectrum of RS Oph prior to the 1985 outburst was
not very different from its state prior to the 1967 outburst.



          V. V. SMITH*                       G. WALLERSTEIN*

         University of Texas             University of Washington


Reference: Wallerstein, G. and Cassinelli, J. P. 1968, Pub. Astron. Soc. of the Pac., 80,
 589. [BIBCODE 1968PASP...80..589W ]

-------------------------
 * Guest Investigators, Dominion Astrophysical Observatory, Herzberg Institute for 
Astrophysics, National Research Council of Canada.