P108	July 2006

¹ Institut d'Astrophysique et de Géophysique - Université de Liège, Allée du 6 Août, Bât B5c, B-4000 Liège (Sart Tilman), Belgium
² Instituut voor Sterrenkunde, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Celestijnenlaan 200 B, 3001 Leuven, Belgium

^* Postdoctoral Researcher FNRS, Belgium
^** Research Associate FNRS, Belgium
^*** Research Director FNRS, Belgium

⁺ Based on observations collected at the European Southern Observatory (La Silla, Chile) and Cerro-Tololo Observatory (Chile).

Abstract

     We analyse observations, spanning 15 years, dedicated to the extreme emission-line object Hen3-209. Our photometric data indicate that the luminosity of the star undergoes marked variations with a peak-to-peak amplitude of 0.65mag. These variations are recurrent, with a period of 16.093±0.005d. The spectrum of Hen3-209 is peculiar with many different lines (HI, HeI, FeII,...) showing P Cygni profiles. The line profiles are apparently changing in harmony with the photometry. The also contains [OIII] lines that display a saddle profile topped by three peaks, with a maximum separation of about 600km/s. Hen3-209 is most likely an evolved luminous object suffering from mass ejection events and maybe belonging to a binary system.