This month's variable is on the VIP list of a number of astronomers. It was brought to the notice of the AAVSO in 1983 by Dr L Kohoutek of the Kohoutek "media comet" fame. Kohoutek pointed out that the star remains substantially constant at about magnitude 11 for long periods and then undergoes a series of eclipses lasting several months. The eclipse period is 17.2 days and the eclipses are easy to detect because the star fades to mag 13 or fainter. I imagine that unusually fast precession of the ascending node causes the eclipses to cease for many months at a time. To make it even more interesting, the star is the central star of the bipolar nebula NGC 2346.

I was lucky enough to be able to alert the astronomical community to the resumption of the eclipses at the beginning of the 1996/7 observing season and am watching it like a hawk for signs of a further spell of eclipses.

Observers are also asked to watch out for secondary eclipses once the eclipses start. So you can see it is an exciting object to monitor. It is easy to find because it is in the wide angle field of the naked eye star Delta Monocerotis.

Give it a go and try to be the first to detect the eclipses!

Danie Overbeek
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