Detection of an Eclipse during the 1987 Outburst of U Sco

Abstract

U Sco is a recurrent nova which showed recorded outbursts in 1863, 1906, 1936, 1979, 1987, and most recently in 1999. The eclipsing nature of the object was discovered after the 1987 outburst. We examined our time-series photographic observations obtained during on 1987 May 20, which fortuitously covered the primary minimum (depth 0.8 mag). This postive detection of an eclipse during the outburst makes the first epoch observation of the U Sco eclipse during the 1987-1999 outburst interval.