[vsnet-chat 3470] Re: [vsnet-const 31] V449 Sco details in AN 264, 311

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

The recovery of the announcement details concerning V449 Sco merely backs up
what I found some years ago - that the quality of some variable star reports
in the first few decades of the 20th Century was pretty poor. The report(s)
by J. Voute
are a case in point. [I hope he's not reading this ;) ]. I did some work on
one of his papers - Bull. Ast. Inst. Netherlands 4, p16-17 (1927).  A total
of 26 variables were listed as variable (mainly far southern stars), but the
announcements were often made on the basis of very scanty material, perhaps
only _two_ photos.  No accurate positions are given, just rough offsets from
a nearby CPD star. In at least a couple of cases the magnitude of the
variable is not reported, only a (rough) range.
eg NSV 4897, NSV 4921.  Most of Voute's stars still languish in the NSV
catalogue - see IBVS 3702 (1992), and identification was very hazardous, in
the absence of Voute's original paper. It makes me wonder why he bothered
reporting work which would/could have been at a very preliminary stage.
Publish or perish?

    Prior to WW II, the criteria for acceptance of stars into the GCVS (or
its predecessors) was not as rigorous as it is today. Or the standards,
which no doubt existed, were not always adhered to. And there is always the
human factor: people can make mistakes about what they observe. Back in
1981, I had a look at TY Vel, which was listed in GCVS3 as constant at 9.5p.
The original announcement (H. Wood, Union Obs. Circ. 48, 1920) claimed a
variation from 9.55 to 11.5p. I arranged to have those same plates
reexamined at Sydney Observatory, and showed no such variation. The star was
constant at 11.5p.
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
----- Original Message -----
From: no name <crawl@zoom.co.uk>
To: <vsnet-const@kusastro.kyoto-u.ac.jp>; <varsao@fullzero.com.ar>
Sent: Wednesday, July 26, 2000 5:11 AM
Subject: [vsnet-const 31] V449 Sco details in AN 264, 311


>
> I have obtained details of the original account for the object that
> became V449 Sco... ...and I cannot understand why it is in the GCVS and
> not in a suspect variable catalogue!
>
> First of all, the full ref is Astronomische Nachrichten volume 264
> _column_ 311, and not page 311 [there appear to be two columns to a
> page], 1937.
>
> The original is in German, which I haven't touched since school, but it
> is a very short note and mostly written in "astronomic", so with the aid
> of an online dictionary, here goes a _transliteration_:-
>
> The note is entitled "Two new variables": it is _authored_ by J
> Vo{u^}te.
>
> The first is HD 159595 [now also known as V449 Sco]: CDP and CoD
> designations are given, along with spectral type of A0, 1900.0 and
> 1875.0 epoch&equinox positions are given.
>
> It is described as an Algol star with period of 38.8 days, and a broad
> minimum of about two days, with amplitude 0.6 magnitudes [no doubt where
> the GCVS range of 7.0 - 7.6 comes from].
>
> And that is all it says.
>
> A short sentence to close states that the variability of the two
> variables has been confirmed by S J O'Connell of Riverview College
> Observatory, Sydney.  It could be taken as saying _affirmed_ instead of
> _confirmed_ [ist... ...best{a-umlaut}tigt worden].
>
> The article is then signed by Voûte at Nov 1937 from Bosscha
> Observatory, Lembang...
>
> And that is it!
>
> Three IMPORTANT points follow based on this:-
>
> i) in an earlier post I assumed Riverside Coll. Obs. was in South
> Africa... ...it appears it is in fact in Australia.  Also, I noted that
> Vo{u^}te and O'Connell had done several joint papers on photographic
> photometry of southern variables.  So they knew each other.
>
> ii) the PASP 65, 88 (1953) paper which led me to the above reference
> gives more information than the AN 264, 311 paper actually carries!  The
> 1953 paper suggested that a photographic discovery of Vo{u^}te had been
> confirmed in the visual by O'Connell... ...all the AN article actually
> says is O'Connell either confirmed or _affirmed_ these stars
> variabililty, there is no mention of how, whilst Vo{u^}te is the author,
> but not specifically mentioned as observer.
>
> Why this star is in the GCVS I don't know.  The entry for it in GuL 2,4
> (1957) only repeats the AN [GuL info kindly provided by Michael Dahm]
> information, and no one else seems to have further identified any
> variability... ...some have even used it as a constant comparison star!
>
> iii) A _strong_ contextual indicator here is the _second_ variable star
> mentioned in this note!  It is identified as HD 160589, which is
> nowadays also known as V703 Sco.  Durchmusterung IDs and positions are
> given, plus a spectrum of F0.
>
> The AN 264, 311 details go on to say that the amplitude is small,
> sometimes soon brighter, sometimes soon weaker than CPD -32 4735, and a
> period of "+/- 16d?" is quoted.
>
> This is in fact a 0.5 V amplitude deltaScutid variable of 0.115 days
> period!
>
> This puts the situation of V449 Sco's description into context.
>
> [NOTE all these objects lie within the field of Messier 6].
>
>
> I reckon V449 Sco is constant.
>
>
> I acknowledge the assistance of P G Hingley, RAS librarian, in acquiring
> the information from AN 264, 311.
>
>
> Cheers
>
> John
>

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