Photometric variability of barium stars

Results are presented on uvby observations for up to 4 years of 19 southern barium stars. During the observation period, only two of the stars, HD 121447 and HD 46407, showed significant light variations. These variables are the stars among the sample with the shortest orbital periods. In the case of HD 46407, evidence for eclipses was also found. It is noted that the evidence of varying phase shifts between the photometric eclipse and the spectroscopic ephemeris based on McClure and Woodsworth's (1990) orbital parameters makes it unlikely that the eclipsed light arises directly from the stellar companion of the barium star. It is also suggested that the flickering displayed by the reddest barium stars is a generic property of all red stars, because it was also observed for the comparison stars HD 204139 and HD 90677