Optical observations of the massive early-type binary V 861 Scorpii (= HD152667).

Results of an extensive spectroscopic and photometric investigation of V861 Scorpio obtained during the period 1977-1980 are presented. Improved orbital elements were derived and the resulting O-C residuals of the radial velocity measurements were investigated for short period variations. None were found. This is in accordance with the results given by Wolff and Beichman (1979) and Lloyd (1991) and contradicts those published by Walker (1971), Hill et al. (1974), and Hutchings (1979) who found a variation with a period of 0.61470 d and an amplitude of up to 16 km/s. The Beta-Lyr-like light curve appears to have been stable for more than 20 yr. O-C residuals from a light curve fit did not show any short periodic variations in accordance with results given by Howarth (1983). The upper limit for the amplitude of such variations is smaller than about 0.01 m. The complex line profiles of H-alpha and H-beta exhibit basically the same behavior depending on orbital phase as reported for earlier observations.