ABSTRACT.      Continued photometry of the nova-like cataclysmic variable (CV) V794 Aql shows that the unusual repetitive, slow, deep declines that were reported earlier for 1990–1992 have persisted now for over 6 years. The slow declines and rapid rises are shown to have relatively consistent shapes. This continued behavior presents some potential problems for the model of Honeycutt, Cannizzo, & Robertson, in which the "sawtooth"-shaped light curve was considered to be an accretion disk instability initiated as dropped from the nova-like regime. Alternative mechanisms are briefly explored and are argued to also encounter difficulties in accounting for the light curve. A radial velocity study of V794 Aql yields a best period of 0.1533 days (3.68 hr). Periods of 0.1336 and 0.1787 days are considerably less likely but cannot be ruled out from the data at hand. These periods are in the expected range for VY Sculptoris type nova-like CVs.

Key words: novae, cataclysmic variables; stars: individual (V794 Aquilae)

Print publication: Issue 4 (1998 October)
Received 1998 February 17