COMMISSION 27 OF THE I.A.U.
                 INFORMATION BULLETIN ON VARIABLE STARS
                             Number 3233

                                                         Konkoly Observatory
                                                         Budapest
                                                         5 September 1988

                                                         HU ISSN 0374 - 0676


   A PERIOD DETERMINATION FOR THE ECLIPSING BINARY NSV 03005

In March 1988, NSV 03005 (BD +17d1281, HD 258878, SAO 095781),
+8.2 V, F2II, was discovered to be a probable long-period eclipsing
binary with an amplitude of 1.8m and eclipse duration of 12-14 days
(Kaiser et al. 1988). I have now searched the Harvard Photographic
Plate Collection for addition minima. The variable was estimated
on 577 plates of the AC series, 1898-1952, and 177 plates of the
Damon series, 1967-1988, using the B magnitudes of comparison stars
previously reported (Table I, Kaiser et al. 1988). NSV 03005
appeared at maximum, +9.0 m_b, on almost all plates. Six plates
showed the variable considerably fainter:


                 TABLE I.

JD 2400000+     m_b     E    Phase

15777.703     +10.3     0   -0.0013
18295.829      10.9     2   -0.0005
20815.817      10.0     4   +0.0017
22072.548      10.8     5   +0.0003
27106.639      10.5     9   +0.0002
27107.647      10.6     9   +0.0010

   A period of 1258d.56 fits these observations and the minimum
observed by Kaiser et al. (1988), JD 2447243.4. Times of primary
minima are represented by the elements:

           JD_min = 2415779.4 + 1258d.56 E

   Epoch numbers and phases calculated from this ephemeris are noted
in the Table. The next primary mid-eclipse is predicted for
2 September 1991.
   One of the Damon plates was exposed just five days prior to the
observed mid-eclipse date of 23 March 1988. No dimming of the
variable was detected on this plate by visual inspection. The
observations in the Table show that the variable is >1.0m fainter
than maximum within two days of minimum. I concluded that plates
within three days of mid-eclipse would clearly reveal minima.
Within this +/-3d range, plates showing the variable at maximum were
found to eliminate all the sub-multiples of the derived period from
1/2 to 1/20 P.
   The good agreement of faint observations with a constant period
and the fact that the star is faint on less than 1% of the plates
strongly support the classification of NSV 03005 as an eclipsing
binary.
   I wish to thank curator Martha Hazen for permission to use the
Harvard Photographic Plate Collection and for her assistance, as
well as Marvin Baldwin and David Williams for checking the results.


                        DANIEL H. KAISER

                      2631 Washington Street
                      Columbus, IN 47201 USA



REFERENCE:

Kaiser, D. H., Baldwin, M. E., and Williams, D. B., 1988, 
  Inform. Bull. Var. Stars No. 3196.