Photoelectric light and colour variations in V471 Tauri

A new investigation of the variations in the light curves and in the period of the eclipsing binary V471 Tau is presented. The collected observational data have been re-examined and, in addition to old information, it was found that (i) the decrease in the period of the system slows down and (ii) that the mean brightness of the system has been increasing and this is greater at the longer wavelength. For the last seven years the increase in the brightness is estimated to be 0.15 mag in B and 0.18 mag in V bands respectively. Therefore, we conclude that the colour of the system is about 0.03 mag redder in 1980 than in 1973. © 1982 D. Reidel Publishing Co