HD 5980

Rapid fading of this object was detected from observations by A. Pearce (vsnet-sdor 9). The magnitude reached 11.4 on October 17. About this fading, T. Kato forwarded a message from Dr. Koenigsberger in [vsnet-campaign 532]. According to it, the fading phase correspond to the orbital phases between 0.2 and 0.4 (P=19.266) which coincide with the eclipse of Star A (the LBV/eruptor) by Star B (presumably the original WR star), although a drop by 0.7mag does seem a LARGE drop for visual magnitudes.