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\IBVShead{4665}{26 January 1999}

\IBVStitle{ON SEVERAL ``LOST'' HARVARD VARIABLES}

\IBVSauth{Martha L. Hazen$^1$, Nikolai Samus$^2$}
\IBVSinst{Harvard$-$Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Cambridge,
MA 02138, USA
[mhazen@cfa.harvard.edu]} %email


\IBVSinst{Institute of Astronomy, Russian Academy of Sciences,
48, Pyatnitskaya Str., Moscow 109017, Russia
[samus@sai.msu.su]} %email


\IBVSabs{Twelve Harvard variables lacking finding charts have been}
\IBVSabs{recovered. We present accurate coordinates for these stars.}
\IBVSabs{The problem case of V782 Ara is discussed in more detail.}
\IBVSabs{A new variable in Ara has been also discovered.}

\SIMBADobj{V782 Ara}
\IBVSkey{coordinates}

\begintext

One of important problems connected with the catalogs of variable stars
is the following. For many faint variable stars discovered decades ago, their
discoverers announced only approximate coordinates, which are reproduced
in the GCVS. Currently, an attempt is being made by the GCVS compilers
either to identify such stars with GSC or with the USNO A1.0/A2.0 catalog or to
measure their coordinates on photographs and thus to improve the positional
accuracy of the GCVS to the level sufficient for straightforward
positional identifications during observations. However, quite a number
of variables with uncertain positions have no finding charts in the
literature.

More than 13000 variable stars were discovered, mainly in the first half
of the 20th century, at Harvard Observatory. Among these stars, 1087 are
lacking reference to a finding chart in the GCVS, and 1570, in the NSV
catalog. Many of them can be found using the Harvard plate collection,
especially taking advantage of ink marks left by discoverers on
discovery plates. A large fraction of the ``lost'' Harvard variables
are stars discovered by Luyten in 1932$-$1937 during preparation of the
Bruce Proper Motion Survey, announced in several issues of the
{\it Astronomische Nachrichten}, and listed in his catalog (Luyten,
1938).

To estimate the amount of work needed to find or recover the majority
of the ``lost'' Harvard variables and the chances of success, we have
carried out a small pilot project. Several stars, mostly Luyten's variables
in different
constellations, were chosen more or less at random. Then, one of us
(M.H.) found the stars on plates of the Harvard collection, and the
other (N.S.) identified the stars with the GSC or with the USNO A1.0 catalog
or measured the coordinates. The results for 12 stars are collected in 
Table 1. Its last column contains identification with the IRAS Catalog of
Point Sources (Neugebauer et~al., 1988). The cases of V782 Ara, NSV 08216, and
V CMa are discussed in more detail below.

\newpage

\begin{table}
\caption{The positions of Harvard variables}
\begin{center}
\begin{tabular}{lccr@{\hr}c@{\mm}c@{\fsec}lr@{\deg}c@{\arcm}lcl}
\hline
GCVS, NSV& HV & GSC & \multicolumn{4}{c}{$\alpha(2000.0)$} & \multicolumn{3}{c}{$\delta(2000.0)$} & Source & \multicolumn{1}{c}{IRAS}\\
\hline
V782 Ara  & 9018 &           & 17 & 09 & 14 & 48 & $-$52 & 41 & 02\farcs 9 & A2.0  &              \\
NSV 08216 & 9017 & 8727.1397 & 17 & 08 & 57 & 65 & $-$52 & 39 & 23\farcs 6 & GSC   & 17049--5235  \\
DU Aqr    & 9727 & 5209.0644 & 21 & 43 & 23 & 40 & $-$01 & 06 & 38\farcs 9 & GSC   &              \\
V CMa     & 3029 & 7087.0114 & 06 & 43 & 40 & 71 & $-$31 & 46 & 56\farcs 5 & Tycho &              \\
SY Col    & 8054 & 7613.1614 & 06 & 27 & 49 & 78 & $-$38 & 34 & 04\farcs 2 & GSC   & 06261--3832  \\
EK Mus    & 8437 &           & 12 & 24 & 05 & 60 & $-$67 & 48 & 07\farcs 8 & A2.0  & 12212--6731  \\
NR Pup    & 8104 &           & 07 & 59 & 42 & 58 & $-$50 & 08 & 34\farcs 3 & A2.0  & 07583--5000  \\
UU Pyx    & 8153 &           & 08 & 43 & 12 & 05 & $-$33 & 05 & 45\farcs 1 & A2.0  & 08411--3254  \\
V559 Sgr  & 9184 &           & 18 & 01 & 35 &  3 & $-$34 & 47 & 58\arcs    & N.S.  &              \\
V429 Sco  & 9153 &           & 17 & 56 & 39 &  0 & $-$34 & 59 & 54\arcs    & N.S.  &              \\
BZ Tel    & 9277 &           & 18 & 11 & 47 & 05 & $-$49 & 53 & 03\farcs 8 & A2.0  &              \\
GQ Vel    & 8268 &           & 10 & 14 & 55 & 48 & $-$41 & 39 & 23\farcs 0 & A2.0  & 10127--4124? \\
\hline
\end{tabular}
\end{center}
{\normalsize {\bf Remarks to the table:}\\
V559 Sgr.~~Three faint stars are present in the Digitized
Sky Survey very close to the position of the variable. The coordinates
measured by N.S. refer to the position of the north-western object, better
agreeing with the discovery photograph.\\
V429 Sco.~~The position of the most
probable candidate measured; many stars of the neighborhood are missing
in USNO A1.0/A2.0 catalogs.}
\end{table}

\medskip
{\bf V782 Ara.} This variable star was discovered by Luyten (1935). In the
discovery paper and in Luyten (1938), two variables at almost the same
position were announced, namely HV 9017 = AN 486.1935 (17\hr01\fmm0,
$-$52\deg31\arcm,
1900.0) and HV 9018 = AN 487.1935 (17\hr01\fmm2, $-$52\deg32arcm, 1900.0). Later
Hoffmeister (1963) rediscovered AN 487.1935 independently, but did not
publish any details. As a large-amplitude star (16.5 to fainter than
17.5, according to Luyten), independently discovered by two authors,
HV 9018 was included into the GCVS as V782 Ara; HV 9017 remains a
``suspected'' variable star, NSV 08216 (13.0 to 16.0, according to
Luyten). However, in the absence of a
finding chart, it is by no means clear which of the two stars was
rediscovered by Hoffmeister.

Both variables could be found by M.H. marked on the plates near the published positions. The
brighter, NSV star, associated with an IRAS point source, is
strongly variable and will be included in one of the next Name-lists
of variable stars. In the course of the search for these two stars,
M.H. discovered a new variable approximately in one degree to the north
of Luyten's position: its A2.0 (2000.0) coordinates are 17\hr09\mm43\fsec562,
$-$51\deg40\arcm51\farcs80. The star is bluish ($m_{blue}=12.4$,
$m_{red}=12.1$, color index +0\mm3) in
the USNO A2.0 catalog and very blue (negative color index) in the A1.0
catalog. However, most probably the star is a red variable with a
large amplitude (at least 2 magnitudes), and its catalog color index
may be due to variability on non-simultaneously-taken plates in blue and
red light.

{\bf V CMa.} The star was discovered by A. Cannon (Pickering, 1907)
as a Mira with a 230\day\ period, later improved to 243\fday57 by
Payne-Gaposchkin (1950). Bidelman (1981) announced Me spectrum
for the star, from Cerro Calan data. No finding chart was ever published.
Additional confusion was introduced by the world-recognized reference
source, ``Geschichte und Literatur'' (GuL). Thus, its first edition
(M\"uller and Hartwig, 1918) identifies V CMa with ``the southern,
preceding component of a rather loose double star'', whereas the second
edition (Prager, 1934) says that CoD$-$31\deg3605 = CPD$-$31\deg1311
{\it precedes} the variable by 16\arcs\ --- a rather {\it close} pair
for the beginning of the century. The reference to magnitudes
of comparison stars in the 4th volume of the
GuL, 2nd edition (Schneller, 1957), is actually for V CMi, not V CMa.
Harvard photographs do not show the 16\arcs\ companion of CoD$-$31\deg3605
(visible in the Digitized Sky Survey). The position of Cannon's
variable corresponds to the description in M\"uller and Hartwig (1918).
V CMa, identified by us with GSC 7087.0114, may also be identical to
CoD$-$31\deg3607, but this identification is not certain due to a
distortion in the CoD catalogue. Our identification of V CMa agrees with
that adopted by Bidelman (1981).

Thanks are due to Sergei Antipin and Elena Kazarovets for their
help and valuable discussions. One of us (N.S.) wishes to thank the
Russian Foundation for Basic Research, the State Programme ``Astronomy'',
and the Russian Council for Support of Leading Scientific Schools
for partial financial support of the GCVS research.


\references

Bidelman, W.P. 1981, IBVS No.\,2054

Hoffmeister, C. 1963, Ver\"off.\ Sternw.\ Sonneberg, 6, H. 1

Luyten, W.J. 1935, Astron.\ Nachr., 256, 325

Luyten, W.J. 1938, Publ.\ Astron.\ Obs.\ Univ.\ Minnesota, 2, No.\,6

M\"uller, G. and Hartwig, E. 1918, Geschichte und Literatur...,
Bd.\ 1

Neugebauer, G. et al.\ 1988, Infrared Astronomical Satellite (IRAS), Catalogs and Atlases, The Point Source Catalog, NASA RP-1190

Payne-Gaposchkin, C. 1950, Harvard Obs.\ Ann., 115, No.\,18

Pickering, E. 1907, Harvard Obs.\ Circ., No.\,134

Prager, R. 1934, Geschichte und Literatur..., 2nd Ed., Bd.\ 1

Schneller, H. 1957, Geschichte und Literatur..., 2nd Ed., Bd.\ 4

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