COMMISSION 27 OF THE I. A. U.
             INFORMATION BULLETIN ON VARIABLE STARS
                          Number 3626  

                                             Konkoly Observatory
                                             Budapest
                                             18 June 1991

                                             HU ISSN 0374 - 0676


              DV DRACONIS - A LONG-CYCLE DWARF NOVA


DV Dra has been detected as a new cataclysmic variable by Pavlov end Shugarov
(1985), who found one outburst on 80 exposures. To the knowledge of the
present author no subsequent paper concerning the star has been published since
then (see also Bibl. Cat. of Variable Stars, CDS Strasbourg).

As the star is situated in the Sonneberg 50/70/172 cm Schmidt camera field of
AM Her, the light-curve of the discovery eruption of June 1984 could be
investigated in some detail:  The variable had been brighter than about 17.3m
for 28 days at least. Its maximum brightness on the plates was 15.0m (1984
June 1.9 UT = J.D. 2445853.4), its minimum fainter than 21m (POSS). Secondary
fluctuations are indicated. All magnitudes are in the B range of the system of
Tapia for AM Her (see Hudec and Meinunger 1977 or Liller 1977).


                              [FIGURE 1]


A search on 144 suitable plates of the 14/70 cm astrograph taken mainly by R.
Brandt 1941 to 1969, and by A. Wicklein on 751 additional Schmidt photographs
gained in general by W. Götz and K. Heiland in 417 nights of 1982 to 1990 did
not reveal any further eruption. On the basis of the shape and the long
duration of the outburst, of the scarcity of the eruptions and of the distance
to the galactic plane, which would be z = 0.3 ...1.7 kpc (instead of more than
100 times that value in the case of the object's being a nova), we conclude
that DV Dra is a long-cycle dwarf nova perhaps of the WZ Sagittae type.

Figure 1 shows all available observations of the outburst of June 1984.
Brackets denote measurements of Pavlov and Shugarov (1985), and arrows
indicate "Fainter-than" observations.


                        W. WENZEL
                    Sternwarte Sonneberg
                       Deutschland

References:

Hudec, R., Meinunger, L., 1977, Mitt. Veranderl. Sterne 7, 194 [BIBCODE 1977MitVS...7..194H ]
Liller, W., 1977, Sky Telesc. 53, 351 [BIBCODE 1977S&T....53..351L ]
Pavlov, M.W., Shugarov, S.Yu., 1985, Astron. Tsirk. No. 1373, 8 [BIBCODE 1985ATsir1373....8P ]