PU Vulpeculae at the time of spectral change in 1987.

A flux-calibrated, low-resolution spectrum of the symbiotic variable PU Vul was obtained when it was changing from an absorption to an emission spectrum in August 1987. The spectral type of the hot component was derived from the Balmer discontinuity, the temperature derived by a Planck curve and by synthetic photometry deduced from the spectrum. A B6 Ia-Iab shell star with a temperature of 13,500 +/-300 K and reddened by interstellar extinction E(B-V) = 0.50 m was found, which harmonizes well with the expectations of Kenyon (1986) about the evolution of PU Vul. An upper limit for the distance of PU Vul was estimated as r = 5.6 +1.5/-1.1 kpc.