SMC X-2 and SMC X-3

J. van Paradijs, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; W. Schlosser, Ruhr University; and M. Tarenghi, European Southern Observatory, report that they have observed stars in the error box for SMC X-2 (IAUC 3125) with the 60-cm Bochum telescope at E.S.O. The star noted by Sanduleak and Philip (IAUC 3127) stands out because of its high ultraviolet brightness. On Nov. 8.3 and 9.2 UT it had V = 14.77, B-V = -0.06, U-B = -1.13. Although U was constant, V and B seemed to fluctuate on a timescale of 30 min by +/- 0.06 and +/- 0.03, respectively. A 170-A/mm image-tube spectrogram obtained with the 360-cm telescope shows absorption lines due to H I, He I, N III, N IV, Si IV and the 4650 A C III-N III-O II blend. N. Sanduleak, Warner and Swasey Observatory, reports that using the same plate material described on IAUC 3127 (and noting the correction to R.A.) he and A. G. D. Philip have found a fourteenth-magnitude OB star within the error circle for SMC X-3. It is identical with the emission-line star No. 198 in the survey by Lindsay (1961, Astron. J. 66, 169, Fig. 2).