The Zeta Aurigae System HD 187299: Not Eclipsing, Maybe Pulsating (Abstract)

Volume 21 number 2 (1992)

John R. Percy

Department of Astronomy, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Katharine A. S. Hayhoe

Department of Astronomy, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Lee Snyder

MacLean Observatory, Box 3964, Incline Village, NV 89450

Abstract

(Abstract only) HD 187299 (G5I + B7(?)V) was recently proposed as a possible eclipsing zeta Aurigae binary system, on the basis of previous spectroscopic observations. The star was observed photoelectrically in B and V at the University of Toronto and at MacLean Observatory for two weeks around the predicted time of conjunction(1992 June 4), but no eclipse deeper than 0.02 in V or 0.04 in B, lasting more than one day, was observed. The mean V magnitude (7.06) and other measures of V in the literature show a scatter of about 0.2, however, which suggests that one of the stars in the system may be an intrinsic variable. The G5I component is the most likely candidate, since yellow supergiants are often pulsating variables. HD 187299 has therefore been added to the AAVSO photoelectric photometry program.