Publication Date:
2011-08-18
Description:
Results from over 200 nights of optical photoelectric photometry of SS 433 during the period July 1979-October 1980 are presented. The data, taken in unfiltered light, the V band, an interference filter band centered on stationary H-alpha and a far-red band, provide evidence for an underlying 164-day light variation of peak-to-peak amplitudes 0.50 magnitude in V and 0.7 magnitude at 6567 A, and a binary-like variation with period 13.074 days and peak-to-peak amplitudes 0.50 and 0.60 magnitudes, respectively. The 13-day light curves are found to change slightly as a function of phase in the 164-day cycle, while seemingly erratic light fluctuations of up to 1 magnitude in 1 day and about 2 magnitudes in 3-4 days are imposed on both cyclic variations. It is noted that a conventional close-binary model is incapable of accounting for all the observed features, and alternatives involving some sort of luminous, rapidly changing extended low-mass envelope or screen in the binary system must be sought.
Keywords:
ASTRONOMY
Format:
text
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