[vsnet-chat 3462] Re: Delta Sco - reminder of V430 Car outburst.

["Mati Morel" <morel@ozemail.com.au>]

    The current outburst of Delta Sco, and the circumstances of its
discovery, remind me very much of a somewhat similar experience I had many
years ago. In 1978 I stumbled upon the star HD 96446 in Carina. Its
published spectral type was    B2 IIIp (or B2 V He, or B3 Vp). Its accepted
magnitude was V=6.68.  But on observing it on 1978 April 10, there it was- a
full half-magnitude brighter than that, at 6.2. This star is in a rich part
of the Carina milky way, with numerous other V magnitudes around it for
comparison. I started observing this star regularly, and its remained bright
for at least 30-40 days,
but then commenced a slow, erratic fade. About 90 days after my first
observation it had faded back to its normal level of 6.7.
That was in the 1978 observing observing. In the 1979 observing season I
continued to follow it, and I think I observed a smaller brightening, by no
more than 0.3 mag, which may have lasted for 80-90 days.
    Strangely to say, HD 96446 eventually received a variable star name -
V430 Car, but _not_ because of my observations.
It was found to be a small amplitude (0.03V) variable of the Beta Cephei
type by Matthews and Bohlender (1988, IBVS 3226).
    At the time of my discovery, I did contact a couple of observatories,
and apparently someone did try to carry out p.e.
observations, and possibly also spectral observations, which would have been
very useful in confirming the outburst. I have never seen the results of
such observations, and the only continuous record I have are my own visual
estimates.

    A complete report on the outburst of V430 Car is given in PUBLICATIONS
of the Variable Star Section of the Royal Astronomical Society of New
Zealand, No. 18 (1992), pp 17- 21. It includes a light curve.

Cheers,
Mati

Morel Astrographics
c/o M. Morel, 6 Blakewell Rd, Thornton NSW 2322 AUSTRALIA
*Specialized Charts** Variable Star Studies** Stellar Data**
151o38'33" E, 32o46'47"S.               morel@ozemail.com.au

VSNET Home Page

Return to Daisaku Nogami

---

vsnet-adm@kusastro.kyoto-u.ac.jp