AS 296 is a well known symbiotic star. As early as 1970 Wackerling, in his catalogue of Hα emission objects, classified it as a symbiotic star. Swings and Alien observed it in the infrared, with the following results: V=10.5, K=4.5, H-K=0.34, K-L=0.34. This implies that AS 286 is an object which does not have a very large infrared excess; consequently, it is classified as an S type object, in
which the infrared radiation is produced mainly by the star, and not by dust surrounding it. Alien gives for the cool component the spectral type M5. We have observed this symbiotic star twice, in 1987 July 3 (two observations) and July 6. The observations were made with the Two Dimensional Photon (counter attached to the 1.Om telescope of Cerro Tololo Inter-Amarican Observatory, using a resolution of 4.3 Å. The wavelengths observed run approximately from λ3800 to λ7200 Å. The three spectra obtained are practically identical: they show intense TiO bands and many lines typical of symbiotic stars; the intensity of the lines does not show any variability, except for λ7068. Recently, Dr. S. Heathcote, from Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory has observed this object using the same equipment; he obtained a completely different spectrum, in which practically the only lines observed are those of the Balmer series of H, and a noisy continuum without detectable molecular bands. This spectrum corresponds to an outburst stage of AS 296. We are grateful to Dr. Heathcote for calling our attention to this object and for allowing us to present at this meeting the spectrum he obtained.