Optically-thick, highly-variable plasma in interacting binaries

The interacting binaries HD 207739 and R Arae were observed by IUE. The ultraviolet spectrum of HD 207739 undergoes complex variations in both the lines and the continuum. Considerable circumstellar matter is present; R Arae (B9p + ?) exhibits SiIV, CIV and even NV absorption features. Both the lines and continuum are variable. An unusual secondary eclipse which is deeper in the ultraviolet than in the visible is present near phase 0.6. The CII line has a P cygni profile with emission present at all observed phases. These systems are probably in a relatively short-lived phase of evolution which is not often observed.