The visible spectrum of the point-like source with infrared excess CPD-52°9243 is identified; emission and absorption line strengths are given together with various ion velocities of P Cygni profiles; a strong polarization is detected: P ≃ 5 %, θ ≃ 36°. From stellar and interstellar features, a spectral type around B8Ia and a distance of about 3.1 kpcs are derived.

A detailed publication is presently in press in Astronomy and Astrophysics.

We report on visual polarimetric measurements of B[e] and related stars, and on an unsuccessful search for correlating the observational data with characteristics of the objects or of their surrounding dust shells.

The term “Be star” has been used at times to describe classes of objects which are physically rather different from one another. While it could include early-type supergiant stars with Hα emission, early-type pre-main sequence nebular variables, or quasi-planetary nebulae like MWC 349, I will limit this review paper to a discussion of the “classical” Be stars. These are defined as stars of luminosity classes III to V, usually rapid rotators, which show normal B-type spectra with superposed Balmer (and sometimes Fe II) emission. Included also, however, will be the Oe stars and the A-type shell stars, which seem to represent extensions of the classical Be phenomenon to higher and lower temperatures, respectively.

The emission features of 140 Be stars described in “An Atlas of Be stars” are briefly reviewed. The time scale of the emission variations are determined for about 35 stars. For several stars we estimated, on the Hβ line, the V/R ratio of the two emission components.

We discuss the discovery, on objective-prism plates, of 846 stars showing Hα in emission on non-banded spectra. These stars have not previously been reported to have emission and are located primarily along the southern galactic plane. Twenty-six per cent. of the stars are known to be of type AO or earlier.

Few studies concern the H alpha profile of the Be stars and it is difficult to do a fine analysis of the line structure, and of its variations from the results obtained with different resolutions and accuracies.

Then, it was useful to apply modern technics for the observation of this line to get an homogeneous material, sensitive enough to show fast variations of the order of few minutes because an accurate photometry is available using linear response receivers.

The present report gives the results of a statistical comparison of shell stars with normal Be stars to establish the differences in the parameters of the gaseous envelopes, such as the radiation power in the Paschen continuum and the optical depth of the envelopes in the Balmer continuum.

Early results are presented from an extensive program of regular Balmer-line spectroscopy; during eight months in 1980 Hα profiles were obtained of over 100 northern Be stars. Transient emission events have been observed in the very early rapid rotator 59 Cygni; sequential variations in Hα are quasi-periodic.

Analysis of optical spectra of HD102567 (HEN 715), the optical counterpart of the X-ray source 4U1145-61 is presented. Estimates of the star's rotation velocity, inclination angle, distance and envelope characteristics are given. Some consequences of the possible existence of a 190d orbital period for this Be/X-ray sources are discussed.

Some astronomers have suggested long period phenomena in the Be stars: Hubert (1971), Delplace and Hubert (1975), Feinstein (1975), Harmanec et al. (1976), Pustylnik (1976). In particular, Fracassini et al. (1977) have made a periodogram analysis of the radial velocities (RV) of the Be star o And from 1900 to 1976, to connect the shell appearance with eventual long-term RV variations. In the present study all the RV of seven Be stars, found in the literature from the beginning of the century up to now, have been assembled and analysed in the same way as o And, in order to find out long period phenomena (duplicity, variability, shell activity, etc…). A brief review on the studied stars may be found in Harmanec et al. (1980).

Shell spectra of Pleione in 1977–1979 are characterized by further increase in their strengths and by the development of the blue-winged profiles without noticeable variation of their radial velocities. The MgII resonance lines at λ2800A have the blue-shifted components with a velocity of-35 km/s relative to the other shell lines. The development of the shell structure is derived. The mass loss rate was 7×10−11 M⊙/yr.

Spectroscopic (1970: ESO, 12 Å/mm, 6 spectra kindly put at my disposal by Prof. A. Van Hoof; 1976: ESO, 12 Å/mm; 1977: Calar Alto Observatory, 42 Å/mm; 1979: ESO, 12 Å/mm) and photometric (1976: ESO and Cerro Tololo, Hβ, uvby) observations of 28 CMa (B2-3 IV-Ve; 3.52 < mV < 4.18, irregular variations on the time scale of months or years reported; vrot = 80 km/s) revealed a very complex variability. All observed individual types of variations are known from at least a few other Be stars. In 28 CMa, however, for the first time a highly significant correlation between the various variations is established by a stable common period. The period is 1.365 days which seems to be the shortest stable period presently known of any Be star. There is no indication that the star's behaviour changed between 1970 and 1979. Only the equivalent widths of the emission lines increased noticeably.

The variable shell (H, HeI, FeIII and once ionized other metals) B0.5 star HD 184279 presents variations of radial velocity and line profiles with a cycle of about 4 years. Some correlations between photometric and spectroscopic data are found. A comparison with 48 Lib and ζ Tau is given.

38 Zeeman spectrograms of the Be star EW Lac (HD 217050) were obtained in three successive years, 1978, 1979 and 1980. The investigated lines show long-time variations of the radial velocities, line widths, and line intensities. No hints at the occurrence of a global magnetic field larger than 150 Gauss were found.

Radial velocity observations of λ Eridani between 1971 and 1980 and uvbyHα photometry in 1977 show that the star is both a light and velocity variable with a period of 0.701538 d. Copernicus observations in 1977 are compatible with this result. Both the radial velocity and photometric amplitude are variable, and these variations may be correlated with the hydrogen emission line strength. The character and phasing of the light and velocity curves suggest that λ Eridani is a pulsating variable.

69 Ori (B5 V) was discovered as a Be star in 1976 (Doazan et al., 1977). We observed this object at the Merate Observatory during the periods Nov. 77. - Jan. 78 - Jan. 78 and Oct. 78 - Feb. 79 obtaining 20 red spectrograms and 25 blue ones with a dispersion of 35 Å/mm. We performed also B and V photo-electric observations during 12 nights altogether. The results from the red spectra and the photometric measurements have been discussed by Bossi et al. (1981).

The bright BOe star X Persei has been observed for over fifthy years, both as an emission line object and as a variable star.

Emission line variations in 1961–1981 of the B2 star HD58050 are reported. Brightness variations are recalled. An estimation of the veiling effect given by continous emission of the envelope, observed in November 1980 in the Balmer lines, is given.

Extensive photometric UBV observations and spectroscopic high dispersion (20 Å/mm and 38 Å/mm) coudé observations of the very luminous (Mv = −8.2) B2.5 eq supergiant R81 of the LMC were carried out between 1970 and 1980 at ESO, La Silla. In addition the IUE satellite was used to obtain a high resolution (0.2 Å) spectrogram in the ultraviolet wavelength range 1200 < λ < 1950 Å. The most prominent features of the visual spectrum are P Cygni profiles of the Balmer lines, indicating a shell with an expansion velocity of about 140 km s−1. The ultraviolet spectrum of R 81 is dominated by blue-shifted absorption resonance lines (Si II, Si IV, C II, C IV, Al III etc.) and Fe III absorption lines originating from metastable lower levels. From the UV resonance lines a very high mass loss rate (M = 5 10−5 M⊙ yr−1) was estimated. The early Balmer lines show very broad shallow emission wings (total width 40 to 50 Å), attributed to electron scattering. The mass loss is highly variable and presumably occurs in the form of sudden ejections of discrete shells. Irregular brightness variations of a few tenths of a magnitude in V on timescales of weeks were found. An absolute bolometric magnitude Mbol ≈ −10 and a photospheric radius R ≈ 70 R⊙ were estimated. A comparison with theoretical evolutionary tracks indicates a stellar mass M > 50 M⊙. The observed spectroscopic properties lead us to suggest that the LMC star R 81 is a close counterpart of the galactic star P Cyg, representing a short lived transient stage in the evolution of the most massive stars.

Two determinations of helium abundance in the primary β Lyrae's component existed before 1975. According to Boyarchuk (1959) helium is 631 times overabundant relative to hydrogen and according to Hack and Job (1965) the ratio He/H varies from 1 to 2.25 depending on the effective temperature. We started to examine this probleme with the aim to decide between these extreme results. In the meantime there were published two papers by Leushin at al. (1977, 1979) in which there was found, that He/H = 1.5 for Teff = 12 000 °K and log g = 2.5. The earlier results were based on equivalent widths analysis with curve of growth method. The authors of newly published papers have started from convenient models of the atmosphere, calculated equivalent widths and compared them with observation. In our paper (Bahýl′ 1979) we started from models of the atmosphere, too. Then we calculated the theoretical profiles. We have found the best fit for the model Böhm-Vitense (1967), Teff = 12 900 °K, log g = 2 and He/H = 2.72, as shown in Fig. 1.