On the variability of the FUor BBW 76

The FU Orionis star BBW 76 has been monitored photometrically between 1983 and 1989, and with high resolution spectra between 1985 and up to now. The V lightcurve shows a monotonic decrease of about 0.3 mag per decade. The prominent P Cygni profiles with massive absorption troughs at H alpha and at the Sodium doublet seen in the early spectra have gradually weakened over the last decade, until they, at least at the Sodium lines, have all but disappeared. This is evidence of a significant weakening of the high velocity winds on a timescale of only a few years.