[vsnet-alert 8462] V422 Ara, a CV or not?

[Berto Monard]

Dear readers,

After the 'outburst' notification by Rod Stubbings, I decided to image this CV suspect (catalogued as non-cv).

The following was measured:  

AraV422   20050614.064   153Rc
AraV422   20050614.063   153V

This is a blue star! 

Timeseries photometry over just under 3h showed a fading pattern with some small amplitude oscillations in the light curve.
Follow up observations a couple of nights later showed this star around magnitude 17. 

This is a variable star!

It is not unlikely that this was a short (normal) outburst of a dwarf nova.


V422 Ara can be identified with the Southern part of a close N-S double. It is the fainter of the two stars.

Astrometry vs UCAC2 gave as (2000) position

16 59 18.89 -61 43 30.0

which is in 'reasonable' but not exact agreement with the SIMBAD coordinates for it (end figures 18.9,  31). At least SIMBAD's position did not relate to the brighter Northen star!

USNO-B1.0 gives the following data for the close double:
    1  0.0501  16 59 18.61  -61 43 28.5  0282-0714836  1986.7         15.34  16.24  15.23  15.05
    2  0.0243  16 59 18.70  -61 43 30.0  0282-0714837  1988.5         15.98                16.01

V422 Ara is star #2

I am looking forward to future brightenings of V433 Ara and to help unveil its true nature.



Berto Monard
Bronberg Observatory / CBA Pretoria