An unprecedented UV/optical flare in TV Columbae.

A surprising, 2 mag, short time scale (hr) outburst of TV Col (2A 0526-328) was observed simultaneously at IUE and optical wavelengths in 1982 November. During this 'flare', the IUE emission lines of N v 1240, C IV 1550, and He II 1640, intensified by more than an order of magnitude and developed P Cygni profiles, indicating mass loss. Continuum fits with a power-law plus a blackbody from the UV through the optical showed a steepening of the UV power-law component and an increase in the temperature and size of the blackbody component during the flare activity. This unusual behavior is discussed in terms of an accretion disk instability.