The very unusual ultraviolet spectra of R Arae

The high resolution ultraviolet spectra of the 4.4-day period binary R Arae, observed in 1980 with the International Ultraviolet Explorer, show that its continuum flux level varied outside the eclipse by more than a factor of two in ten days, and by over 50 percent within the same orbital cycle. The flux level varied nonmonotonically at different wavelengths. The resonance lines of Mg II and Si IV exhibited shortward-shifted absorption components near phase 0.4, indicating the presence of a gas stream toward the observer at a velocity of some -450 to -500 km/s. The observations of R Arae with the Einstein satellite show it to be an X-ray source.