  A photometric study of the Near Contact Binary (NCB) system V609 Aql reveals
it to be the westernmost star of a close double, with brightness variations and
implied parameters more extreme than those derived in an earlier photographic
study, in which images of the variable and companion were almost certainly
blended. The system's brightness variations exhibit deep primary eclipses
($\delta$ V = 1.04) and secondary eclipses ($\delta$ V = 0.44) matched to a
model fit with a derived orbital inclination of i = 84.8$\pm$0.2 degrees and
estimated component spectral types of F8-F9 and K2-K3. The primary overfills
its Roche lobe in the optimum eclipse solution, inconsistent with the
definition of NCBs. Period changes in the system are studied from 23 published
times of light minimum and 21 newly-established values: 18 from examination of
archival Harvard plates, and 3 from ASAS data and new CCD observations. O-C
variations from 1891 to 2007 exhibit a long-term parabolic trend indicative of
a period decrease, dP/dt = -(7.75$\pm$1.39) x 10^-8 d/yr, corresponding to mass
transfer to the secondary of (6.5$pm$1.2) x 10^-8 SM/yr. Superposed variations
may indicate fluctuations in the mass flow. The system is estimated to be ~513
pc distant.
