T. Kato et al., The 1996-1997 fading of V651 monocerotis, the binary central star of the planetary nebula NGC 2346, PUB AST S J, 53(5), 2001, pp. 901-903
V651 Mon is the binary central star of the bipolar planetary nebula NGC 234
6. The star showed the second-ever deep fading in 1996-1997, which was pres
umably caused by obscuration by a dust cloud in the planetary nebula, as wa
s proposed to explain the 1981-1985 event. The entire duration of the 1996-
1997 event was similar to 400d, remarkably shorter than the 1981-1985 event
, suggesting that the obscuring body was smaller or had a larger tangential
velocity. The most remarkable feature in this event was the presence of a
sharply defined transient clearing (brightening). From the time-scale of th
e variation, we propose an upper limit of the projected scale of several ti
mes similar to 10(11) cm of the structure responsible for the brightening.
This observation provides the first evidence for a sharply defined, small l
ucent structure within the obscuring body around the central star of NGC 23
46.