COMMISSION 27 OF THE I. A. U.
           INFORMATION BULLETIN ON VARIABLE STARS
                        Number 3027


                                        Konkoly Observatory
                                        Budapest
                                        29 May 1987

                                        HU ISSN 0374-0676


PHOTOMETRIC BEHAVIOUR OF THE SUSPECTED PROGENITOR OF SUPERNOVA 1987A ON PLATES
                        OF SONNEBERG OBSERVATORY


  The star Sanduleak -69 202 was inspected on 162 blue-sensitive plates
obtained by Hoffmeister covering the time between 1934 and 1938, 1952/53
and 1959. The plates were obtained by several cameras of short focal lengths.
Therefore the companions of the star, which are given by West et al. (1987)
coincide with the image of the progenitor. The sequence of comparison stars
used was linked to stars of the regions "a" and "d" given by Westerlund (1961).
  The observations are scattering within the photometric range mpg = 11.8
and mpg = 12.5. The mean brightness of the star amounts to mpg = 12.08+/-0.14.
The high degree of brightness scattering probably is caused by the poor
quality of the plates and the place of the object on them.
  The individual observations will be published in MVS, Sonneberg.


                     B. FUHRMANN

                     Akademie der Wissenschaften der DDR
                     Zentralinstitut fur Astrophysik
                     Sternwarte Sonneberg
                     DDR

References:

West, R.M., Lauberts, A., Jorgensen, H.E., Schuster, H. - E.,
   1987, ESO-Preprint No. 500 [BIBCODE 1987A&A...177L...1W ]
Westerlund, N., 1961, Uppsala Ann. Bd. 5, No. 1 [BIBCODE 1961UppAn...5....1W ]