Photometric and spectroscopic study of the ellipsoidal variable b Persei.

UBV photometry and a spectroscopic orbit of the ellipsoidal binary b Per are presented. The reflection and ellipticity effects are determined, and the period is improved. The difference in the gamma-velocities of radial velocity curves derived from hydrogen lines and lines of metals, found by Hill et al.. (1976), could not be established in the new observations. The parameters of the system and the possibility of circumstellar matter are discussed.