COMMISSION 27 OF THE I. A. U. INFORMATION BULLETIN ON VARIABLE STARS Number 3038 Konkoly Observatory Budapest 26 June 1987 HU ISSN 0374 - 0676 POSITIONS AND PROPER MOTIONS OF THREE NOVAE The importance of positions and proper motions of novae for the determination of their mean parallax and mean absolute magnitude has been pointed out by Artyukhina and Kholopov (1962). Moreover, accurate measurements of novae are needed for the detection of radio emission of these stars (Furst et al. 1986). From old and new plates of the double refractor, astrograph and AG-astroqraph at Hoher List Observatory we determined positions and proper motions of the three novae V603 Aql, HR Del and GK Per. The observational data are given in Table I, while the data of the telescopes, which were used, are given in Table II. For the plates of V603 Aql and HR Del, the field size was large enough that reference stars of the AGK3RN-system could be used (Corbin, 1979). According to de Vegt and Gehlich (1983), the AGK3RN- system is the most reliable representation of the FK4, which can be used in photographic astrometry. For all novae, we took also reference stars from the AGK3 catalog into account. The plates were measured in two (0 and 180 deg) orientations with the ASCORECORD of Hoher List Observatory. A reduction model with terms up to second order of the rectangular coordinates x and y was used. Astrometric tests in the field of the Pleiades have shown that this reduction model is sufficient for the reduction of astrometric measurements of plates of the double refractor (Geffert, 1986a). For the AG-astrograph, a magnitude equation was found, but this affects only the bright stars m < 6m (Geffert, 1986b). Our positions are given in Table III for the AGK3RN and in Table IV for the AGK3. The proper motions are given in Table V and VI. The errors sigma stem from internal comparisons of the measurements of different plates at the same epoch, while the errors epsilon are due to the uncertainty of the transformation from the rectangular coordinates x and y on the plate to the spherical coordinates alpha and delta at the position of the nova. Although the errors of the proper motions in the AGK3-system have smaller errors than the proper motions in the AGK3RN-system, it should be noted that, due to the local systematic errors of the AGK3, the proper motions in the AGK3RN-system are more reliable. For future work, it would be therefore very useful to have first epoch plates covering more than 4 x 4 deg so that AGK3RN reference stars could be taken into account. Table I) Observational Data Plate Telescope Date Emulsion/Filter V603 Aql: B38 I AG-astr. 12061928 Agfa Scienta B38 II AG-astr. 12061928 Agfa Scienta N49 AG-astr. 25071982 Kodak 103a-O N51 AG-astr. 10071983 Kodak IIa-O GK Per: R168 refractor 22111902 Matter 3601 R169 refractor 05121902 Matter 3601 R170 refractor 23121902 Matter 3601 R1662 refractor 11021985 Kodak IIa-O R1666 refractor 12021985 Kodak 103a-O R1671 refractor 16021985 Kodak 103a-O HR Del: B465 AG-astr. 08091929 Agfa Scienta 3166 astr. 20081978 Kodak IIa-O Table II) The data of the telescopes Telescope Focal Length (cm) Diameter (cm) Field Size AG-astrograph 200 11 6 x 6 astrograph 150 30 6 x 6 refractor 500 30 1.5 x 1.5 Table III) Positions of the novae in the AGK3RN-system Date Alpha (1950) Delta (1950) sig.alpha sig.delta eps.alpha eps.delta (h,m,s) (d,',") (sec) (") (sec) (") V603 Aql: 1928.4 18 46 21.458 +00 31 36.73 0.015 0.14 0.007 0.16 1983.0 18 46 21.465 +00 31 36.15 0.007 0.20 0.006 0.30 HR Del: 1929.7 20 40 04.232 +18 58 51.35 0.008 0.15 1978.7 20 40 04.190 +18 58 51.19 0.020 0.30 Table IV) Positions of the novae in the AGK3-system V603 Aql: Date Alpha (1950) Delta (1950) sigma_alpha sigma_delta epsilon_alpha epsilon_delta (h,m,s) (d,',") (sec) (") (sec) (") 1928.4 18 46 21.458 +00 31 36.57 0.009 0.09 0.009 0.12 1983.0 18 46 21.488 +00 31 35.67 0.004 0.02 0.014 0.20 HR Del: 1929.7 20 40 04.201 +18 58 51.38 0.007 0.13 1978.7 20 40 04.195 +18 58 51.49 0.011 0.15 GK Per: 1902.9 03 27 47.568 +43 44 05.46 0.009 0.08 0.013 0.14 1985.2 03 27 47.499 +43 44 04.08 0.008 0.19 0.013 0.14 Table V) Proper motions in the AGK3RN-system. The errors a and s are mean values from both coordinates. Name mu alpha sigma delta sigma mu eps. mu ("/100a) ("/100a) ("/100a) ("/100a) V603 Aql +0.20 -1.07 0.43 0.63 HR Del -1.22 -0.33 -- 0.65 Table VI) Proper motions in the AGK3-system. The errors sigma and epsilon are mean values from both coordinates. Name mu alpha sigma delta sigma mu eps. mu ("/100a) ("/100a) ("/100a) ("/100a) V603 Aql +0.71 -1.75 0.22 0.45 HR Del -0.17 +0.22 -- 0.39 GK Per -0.91 -1.68 0.31 0.21 M. GEFFERT (1), A. BARTELDREES (1,2), B.-C. KAMPER (1), A. PETERS (1), H.-P. SCHMITZ (1), H. WEILAND (1,3), D. WARNKE (1) (1) Observatorium Hoher List Sternwarte der Universitat Bonn D-5568 Daun, FRG (2) Present address: Max-Planck-Institut fur Radioastronomie Auf dem Hugel 69 D-5300 Bonn 1, FRG (3) Present address: Radioastronomisches Institut der Universitat Bonn Auf dem Hugel 71 D-5300 Bonn 1, FRG References: Artyukhina, R., Kholopov, S. 1962, Soviet Astron. 39, 1129 [BIBCODE 1962AZh....39.1129A ] Corbin, S. 1979, In: Modern Astrometry, IAU Colloquium 48 (eds.: F. Prochazka, R. Tucker) p. 505 [BIBCODE 1978moas.coll..505C ] de Vegt, C., Gehlich, U. 1982, Astron.Astrophys. 113, 213 [BIBCODE 1982A&A...113..213D ] Furst, E., Benz, A., Hirth, W., Kiplinger, A., Geffert, M. 1986, Astron. Astrophys. 154, 377 [BIBCODE 1986A&A...154..377F ] Geffert, M. 1986a, der Bayer. Kom. fur die int. Erdmess. der Bayer. Akad. der Wissenschaft. 48, 300 Geffert, M. 1986b, PhD-Thesis, University of Bonn