Search

We present high-and low-resolution spectral observations of the symbiotic Mira variable V407 Cyg obtained in 1993–2002. Both emission and absorption spectra of the star are analyzed in detail. We present the basic spectral parameters for three states of the hot component of V407 Cyg—its passive and quiescent states and an outburst in 1998—and study the evolution of the emission-line profiles during transitions from one state to another.

We present our UBVRI photometry and spectroscopy of AS 338 performed in 1999–2000. Another eclipse of the hot component in this symbiotic binary system, the deepest one ever observed, occurred in September 1999. The U brightness declined by ∼2m, the Hβflux decreased by a factor of ∼2.3, and the [O III]γ5007 flux did not change. The hot component is eclipsed at orbital phases ϕ≈0.045–0.057. The U-B color index begins to appreciably fluctuate during an eclipse of the hot component and its circumstellar envelope. About 100 days after a strong outburst of 1995, the mean UBV brightness of AS 338 declined linearly in the ensuing five years at the same rate in all bands (ΔU/Δt≈10−3 mag/day). The brightness of the outer, uneclipsed parts of the circumstellar envelope also decreased, which is attributable to a reduction in the luminosity of the hot component against the rise in its temperature. The appearance of He II lines has not yet been recorded, though the optical brightness of AS 338 has already dropped by ∼2m after the outburst.