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Known Galactic field Blazhko stars
A list of known Galactic field stars exhibiting Blazhko effectcontaining 242 stars is presented. All the entries including theirdesignations, positions, pulsation, and Blazhko periods were collectedfrom the available literature. The actual values of parameters aregiven.
| The All-sky GEOS RR Lyr Survey with the TAROT Telescopes: Analysis of the Blazhko Effect
We used the GEOS database to study the Blazhko effect of galactic RRabstars. The database is continuously enriched by maxima supplied byamateur astronomers and by a dedicated survey by means of the two TAROTrobotic telescopes. The same value of the Blazhko period is observed atdifferent values of the pulsation periods and different values of theBlazhko periods are observed at the same value of the pulsation period.There are clues suggesting that the Blazhko effect is changing from onecycle to the next. The secular changes in the pulsation and Blazhkoperiods of Z CVn are anticorrelated. The diagrams of magnitudes againstphases of the maxima clearly show that the light curves of Blazhkovariables can be explained as modulated signals, both in amplitude andin frequency. The closed curves describing the Blazhko cycles in suchdiagrams have different shapes, reflecting the phase shifts between theepochs of the brightest maximum and the maximum O - C. Our sampleshows that both clockwise and counterclockwise directions are possiblefor similar shapes. The improved observational knowledge of the Blazhkoeffect, in addition to some peculiarities of the light curves, has yetto be explained by a satisfactory physical mechanism.
| Bayesian inference of stellar parameters and interstellar extinction using parallaxes and multiband photometry
Astrometric surveys provide the opportunity to measure the absolutemagnitudes of large numbers of stars, but only if the individualline-of-sight extinctions are known. Unfortunately, extinction is highlydegenerate with stellar effective temperature when estimated frombroad-band optical/infrared photometry. To address this problem, Iintroduce a Bayesian method for estimating the intrinsic parameters of astar and its line-of-sight extinction. It uses both photometry andparallaxes in a self-consistent manner in order to provide anon-parametric posterior probability distribution over the parameters.The method makes explicit use of domain knowledge by employing theHertzsprung-Russell Diagram (HRD) to constrain solutions and to ensurethat they respect stellar physics. I first demonstrate this method byusing it to estimate effective temperature and extinction from BVJHKdata for a set of artificially reddened Hipparcos stars, for whichaccurate effective temperatures have been estimated from high-resolutionspectroscopy. Using just the four colours, we see the expected strongdegeneracy (positive correlation) between the temperature andextinction. Introducing the parallax, apparent magnitude and the HRDreduces this degeneracy and improves both the precision (reduces theerror bars) and the accuracy of the parameter estimates, the latter byabout 35 per cent. The resulting accuracy is about 200 K in temperatureand 0.2 mag in extinction. I then apply the method to estimate theseparameters and absolute magnitudes for some 47 000 F, G, K Hipparcosstars which have been cross-matched with Two-Micron All-Sky Survey(2MASS). The method can easily be extended to incorporate the estimationof other parameters, in particular metallicity and surface gravity,making it particularly suitable for the analysis of the 109stars from Gaia.
| Observational constraints on the magnetic field of RR Lyrae stars
Context: A high percentage of the astrophysically important RR Lyraestars show a periodic amplitude and/or phase modulation of theirpulsation cycles. More than a century after its discovery, this“Blazhko effect” still lacks acceptable theoreticalunderstanding. In one of the plausible models for explaining thephenomenon, the modulation is caused by the effects of a magnetic field.So far, the available observational data have not allowed us to eithersupport nor rule out the presence of a magnetic field in RR Lyrae stars.Aims: We intend to determine whether RR Lyrae stars are generallycharacterized by the presence of a magnetic field organized on a largescale. Methods: With the help of the FORS1 instrument at the ESOVLT we performed a spectropolarimetric survey of 17 relatively brightsouthern RR Lyrae stars, both Blazhko stars and non-modulated stars, anddetermined their mean longitudinal magnetic field with a typical errorbar <30 G. Results: All our measurements of the meanlongitudinal magnetic field resulted in null detections within 3?.From our data we can set an upper limit for the strength of the dipolecomponent of the magnetic fields of RR Lyrae stars to ~130 G. Because ofthe limitations intrinsic to the diagnostic technique, we cannot excludethe presence of higher order multipolar components. Conclusions:The outcome of this survey clarifies that the Blazhko modulation in thepulsation of RR Lyrae stars is not correlated with the presence of astrong, quasi-dipolar magnetic field.
| Photoelectric Minima of Selected Eclipsing Binaries and Maxima of Pulsating Stars
Not Available
| The GEOS RR Lyr Survey
Not Available
| The GEOS RR Lyr Survey
Not Available
| Southern RR Lyrae Stars Exhibiting the Blazhko Effect
Blazhko periods are given for 43 RRab stars based on data from ASAS3.
| Photoelectric Minima of Selected Eclipsing Binaries and Maxima of Pulsating Stars
Not Available
| Iron abundances derived from RR Lyrae light curves and low-dispersion spectroscopy
With the aid of the All Sky Automated Survey (ASAS) database on theGalactic field, we compare the iron abundances of fundamental mode RRLyrae stars derived from the Fourier parameters with those obtained fromlow-dispersion spectroscopy. We show from a set of 79 stars, distinctfrom the original calibrating sample of the Fourier method and selectedwithout quality control, that almost all discrepant estimates are theresults of some defects or peculiarities either in the photometry or inthe spectroscopy. Omitting objects deviating by more than 0.4 dex, theremaining subsample of 64 stars yields Fourier abundances that fit thespectroscopic ones with σ=0.20 dex. Other, more stringentselection criteria and different Fourier decompositions lead to smallersubsamples and concomitant better agreement, down to σ=0.16 dex.Except perhaps for two variables among the 163 stars, comprised of theASAS variables and those of the original calibrating set of the Fouriermethod, all discrepant values can be accounted for by observationalnoise and insufficient data coverage. We suggest that the agreement canbe further improved when new, more accurate spectroscopic data becomeavailable for a test with the best photometric data. As a by-product ofthis analysis, we also compute revised periods and select Blazhkovariables.
| Bias Properties of Extragalactic Distance Indicators. XI. Methods to Correct for Observational Selection Bias for RR Lyrae Absolute Magnitudes from Trigonometric Parallaxes Expected from the Full-Sky Astrometric Mapping Explorer Satellite
A short history is given of the development of the correction forobservation selection bias inherent in the calibration of absolutemagnitudes using trigonometric parallaxes. The developments have beendue to Eddington, Jeffreys, Trumpler & Weaver, Wallerstein,Ljunggren & Oja, West, Lutz & Kelker, after whom the bias isnamed, Turon Lacarrieu & Crézé, Hanson, Smith, andmany others. As a tutorial to gain an intuitive understanding of severalcomplicated trigonometric bias problems, we study a toy bias model of aparallax catalog that incorporates assumed parallax measuring errors ofvarious severities. The two effects of bias errors on the derivedabsolute magnitudes are (1) the Lutz-Kelker correction itself, whichdepends on the relative parallax error δπ/π and the spatialdistribution, and (2) a Malmquist-like ``incompleteness'' correction ofopposite sign due to various apparent magnitude cutoffs as they areprogressively imposed on the catalog. We calculate the bias propertiesusing simulations involving 3×106 stars of fixedabsolute magnitude using Mv=+0.6 to imitate RR Lyraevariables in the mean. These stars are spread over a spherical volumebounded by a radius 50,000 pc with different spatial densitydistributions. The bias is demonstrated by first using a fixed rmsparallax uncertainty per star of 50 μas and then using a variable rmsaccuracy that ranges from 50 μas at apparent magnitude V=9 to 500μas at V=15 according to the specifications for the Full-SkyAstrometric Mapping Explorer (FAME) satellite to be launched in 2004.The effects of imposing magnitude limits and limits on the``observer's'' error, δπ/π, are displayed. We contrast themethod of calculating mean absolute magnitude directly from theparallaxes where bias corrections are mandatory, with an inverse methodusing maximum likelihood that is free of the Lutz-Kelker bias, althougha Malmquist bias is present. Simulations show the power of the inversemethod. Nevertheless, we recommend reduction of the data using bothmethods. Each must give the same answer if each is freed from systematicerror. Although the maximum likelihood method will, in theory, eliminatemany of the bias problems of the direct method, nevertheless the biascorrections required by the direct method can be determined empiricallyvia Spaenhauer diagrams immediately from the data, as discussed in theearlier papers of this series. Any correlation of the absolute(trigonometric) magnitudes with the (trigonometric) distances is thebias. We discuss the level of accuracy that can be expected in acalibration of RR Lyrae absolute magnitudes from the FAME data over themetallicity range of [Fe/H] from 0 to -2, given the known frequency ofthe local RR Lyrae stars closer than 1.5 kpc. Of course, use will alsobe made of the entire FAME database for the RR Lyrae stars over thecomplete range of distances that can be used to empirically determinethe random and systematic errors from the FAME parallax catalog, usingcorrelations of derived absolute magnitude with distance and position inthe sky. These bias corrections are expected to be much more complicatedthan only a function of apparent magnitude because of variousrestrictions due to orbital constraints on the spacecraft.
| New periodic variables from the Hipparcos epoch photometry
Two selection statistics are used to extract new candidate periodicvariables from the epoch photometry of the Hipparcos catalogue. Theprimary selection criterion is a signal-to-noise ratio. The dependenceof this statistic on the number of observations is calibrated usingabout 30000 randomly permuted Hipparcos data sets. A significance levelof 0.1 per cent is used to extract a first batch of candidate variables.The second criterion requires that the optimal frequency be unaffectedif the data are de-trended by low-order polynomials. We find 2675 newcandidate periodic variables, of which the majority (2082) are from theHipparcos`unsolved' variables. Potential problems with theinterpretation of the data (e.g. aliasing) are discussed.
| Absolute Magnitudes and Kinematic Parameters of the Subsystem of RR Lyrae Variables
The statistical parallax technique is applied to a sample of 262 RRabLyrae variables with published photoelectric photometry, metallicities,and radial velocities and with measured absolute proper motions.Hipparcos, PPM, NPM, and the Four-Million Star Catalog (Volchkov et al.1992) were used as the sources of proper motions; the proper motionsfrom the last three catalogs were reduced to the Hipparcos system. Wedetermine parameters of the velocity distribution for halo [(U_0, V_0,W_0) = (-9 +/- 12, -214 +/- 10, -16 +/- 7) km/s and (sigma_U, sigma_V,sigma_W) = (164 +/- 11, 105 +/- 7, 95 +/- 7) km/s] and thick-disk [(U_0,V_0, W_0) = (-16 +/- 8, -41 +/- 7, -18 +/- 5) km/s and (sigma_U,sigma_V, sigma_W) = (53 +/- 9, 42 +/- 8, 26 +/- 5) km/s] RR Lyrae, aswell as the intensity-averaged absolute magnitude for RR Lyrae of thesepopulations: = 0.77 +/- 0.10 and = +1.11 +/-0.28 for the halo and thick-disk objects, respectively. The metallicitydependence of the absolute magnitude of RR Lyrae is analyzed(=(0.76 +/- 0.12) + (0.26 +/- 0.26) x ([Fe/H] + 1.6) = 1.17 +0.26 x [Fe/H]). Our results are in satisfactory agreement with the_(RR)-[Fe/H] relation from Carney et al. (1992)(_(RR) = 1.01 + 0.15 x [Fe/H]) obtained by Baade-Wesselink'smethod. They provide evidence for a short distance scale: the LMCdistance modulus and the distance to the Galactic center are 18.22 +/-0.11 and 7.4 +/-±0.5 kpc, respectively. The zero point ofthe distance scale and the kinematic parameters of the RR Lyraepopulations are shown to be virtually independent of the source ofabsolute proper motions used and of whether they are reduced to theHipparcos system or not.
| Stars with the Largest Hipparcos Photometric Amplitudes
A list of the 2027 stars that have the largest photometric amplitudes inHipparcos Photometry shows that most variable stars are all Miras. Thepercentage of variable types change as a function of amplitude. Thiscompilation should also be of value to photometrists looking forrelatively unstudied, but large amplitude stars.
| Kinematics of Metal-poor Stars in the Galaxy. II. Proper Motions for a Large Nonkinematically Selected Sample
We present a revised catalog of 2106 Galactic stars, selected withoutkinematic bias and with available radial velocities, distance estimates,and metal abundances in the range -4.0<=[Fe/H]<=0.0. This updateof the 1995 Beers & Sommer-Larsen catalog includes newly derivedhomogeneous photometric distance estimates, revised radial velocitiesfor a number of stars with recently obtained high-resolution spectra,and refined metallicities for stars originally identified in the HKobjective-prism survey (which account for nearly half of the catalog)based on a recent recalibration. A subset of 1258 stars in this cataloghave available proper motions based on measurements obtained with theHipparcos astrometry satellite or taken from the updated AstrographicCatalogue (second epoch positions from either the Hubble Space TelescopeGuide Star Catalog or the Tycho Catalogue), the Yale/San Juan SouthernProper Motion Catalog 2.0, and the Lick Northern Proper Motion Catalog.Our present catalog includes 388 RR Lyrae variables (182 of which arenewly added), 38 variables of other types, and 1680 nonvariables, withdistances in the range 0.1 to 40 kpc.
| Characterization of variable stars by robust wave variograms: an application to HIPPARCOS mission
Variogram analysis is applied to time series of variable stars. Thismethod allows to characterize time-scales of varying signals. It is wellsuited for periodic and pseudo-periodic signals. The aspects ofrobustness, bin positions and bin widths for the variogram estimator areassessed, evaluated with the help of simulations and adapted to theHipparcos photometry. For instance variogram methodology is successfullyapplied for the detection of spurious periods, the estimation ofmeasurement noise and the analysis of the pseudo-period of some typicalHipparcos variable stars.
| Photometry of faint blue stars - IX
Stromgren uv by photometry is presented for 129 `faint blue' stars takenfrom various catalogues. The photometry is used to estimate photometric`classifications' for the stars, which indicate a mixture of hotsubdwarfs, horizontal-branch stars, metal-weak subdwarfs and so on.Attention is drawn to stars (from this paper and previous papers in theseries) which appear to be somewhat reddened. Some are probablybinaries, and others might be objects with peculiar colours, such ascataclysmic variables. One star, LB 9963, almost certainly falls intothe latter category. Two stars which, from their colours, are PopulationII A-F stars are variable; one of these, OM 89, is the known RR Lyraestar, VW Dor.
| The metallicities and kinematics of RR Lyrae variables, 1: New observations of local stars
In order to study the structure and formation history of the galaxy, wehave obtained low-to-moderate dispersion spectra of 302 nearby RR Lyraevariables of Bailey type 'ab'. We derived abundances, typically accurateto 0.15-0.20 dex and calibrated to the Zinn & West (1984) globularcluster metallicity scale, from the pseudoequivalent widths of the Ca IIK, H delta, H gamma, and H beta lines. Radial velocities accurate tobetween 2 and 30 km/s were obtained from the spectra and from theliterature. Distances accurate to between 5% and 20% were derived frompublished apparent magnitudes and Burstein & Heiles (1982)reddenings. The metallicity distribution of the RR Lyrae stars peaks at(Fe/H)K approximately equals -1.5, and is narrower than thatof the Ryan & Norris (1991) subdwarfs, as expected since the mostmetal-rich and metal-poor progenitors preferentially appear as stablered and blue horizontal branch stars, rather than as RR Lyrae. Themetal-rich tail of the RR Lyrae distribution extends to(Fe/H)K approximately equals 0, and a qualitative analysis ofthe distribution of distances from the galactic plane shows that thestars in this tail (i.e., (Fe/H)K greater than -1.0) are moreconcentrated to the plane than the more metal-poor stars. The abundancedistribution of the local RR Lyrae stars is in excellent agreement withthe changing abundance distributions of distant RR Lyrae stars as afunction of galactocentric distance, as derived by Suntzeff et al.(1991), who ascribed this change to systematic variation in horizontalbranch morphology (probably age variations) with galactocentricdistance. The abundance distribution of the local RR Lyrae stars alsoagrees well with those of the distant RR Lyrae stars as a function ofdistance from the galactic plane. There is no evidence for an abundancegradient in this direction, suggesting that gaseous dissipation did notplay a major role in the formation of the outer halo.
| BVI Photometry of Southern Cepheids
Not Available
| VBI photometry of some southern cepheid and RR Lyrae variables
Not Available
| VZ Dor is VW Dor
Not Available
| Mitteilungen uber Veraenderliche der Bamberger Liste.
Not Available
| Identification List of the New Variable Stars Nominated in 1968
Not Available
| Photometric Light-Curves of Southern BV-Stars
Not Available
| Bright Southern BV-Stars
Not Available
| Note on the distribution of RR Lyrae variables.
Not Available
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Observation and Astrometry data
| Constellation: | Schwertfisch |
| Right ascension: | 06h07m45.73s |
| Declination: | -66°58'39.0" |
| Apparent magnitude: | 11.799 |
| Proper motion RA: | -3.1 |
| Proper motion Dec: | 10.4 |
| B-T magnitude: | 12.569 |
| V-T magnitude: | 11.863 |
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