scholarly journals NGC 1261: A TIME-SERIES VI STUDY OF ITS VARIABLE STARS

2019 ◽  
Vol 55 (2) ◽  
pp. 337-350 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Arellano Ferro ◽  
I. H. Bustos Fierro ◽  
J. H. Calderón ◽  
J. A. Ahumada

Time-series VI CCD photometry of the globular cluster NGC 1261 is employed to study its variable star population. A membership analysis of most variables based on Gaia DR2 proper motions and colours was performed prior to the estimation of the mean cluster distance and metallicity. The light curves of the member RR Lyrae were Fourier decomposed to calculate their individual values of distance, [Fe/H], radius and mass. The I band P-L for RR Lyrae stars was also employed. Our best estimates of the metallicity and distance of this Oo I cluster are [Fe/H]ZW =−1.42 ± 0.05 dex and d = 17.2 ± 0.4 kpc. No mixture of fundamental and first overtone RR Lyrae stars in the either-or or bimodal region is seen in this cluster, as it seems to be the rule for Oo I clusters with a red horizontal branch. A multi-approach search in a region of about 10' × 10' around the cluster revealed no new variable stars within the limitations of our CCD photometry.

2019 ◽  
Vol 623 ◽  
pp. A116 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pierre Kervella ◽  
Alexandre Gallenne ◽  
Nancy Remage Evans ◽  
Laszlo Szabados ◽  
Frédéric Arenou ◽  
...  

Context. Classical Cepheids (CCs) and RR Lyrae stars (RRLs) are important classes of variable stars used as standard candles to estimate galactic and extragalactic distances. Their multiplicity is imperfectly known, particularly for RRLs. Astoundingly, to date only one RRL has convincingly been demonstrated to be a binary, TU UMa, out of tens of thousands of known RRLs. Aims. Our aim is to detect the binary and multiple stars present in a sample of Milky Way CCs and RRLs. Methods. In the present article, we combine the HIPPARCOS and Gaia DR2 positions to determine the mean proper motion of the targets, and we search for proper motion anomalies (PMa) caused by close-in orbiting companions. Results. We identify 57 CC binaries from PMa out of 254 tested stars and 75 additional candidates, confirming the high binary fraction of these massive stars. For 28 binary CCs, we determine the companion mass by combining their spectroscopic orbital parameters and astrometric PMa. We detect 13 RRLs showing a significant PMa out of 198 tested stars, and 61 additional candidates. Conclusions. We determine that the binary fraction of CCs is likely above 80%, while that of RRLs is at least 7%. The newly detected systems will be useful to improve our understanding of their evolutionary states. The discovery of a significant number of RRLs in binary systems also resolves the long-standing mystery of their extremely low apparent binary fraction.


2019 ◽  
Vol 14 (S351) ◽  
pp. 478-481
Author(s):  
M. I. Moretti ◽  
I. Musella ◽  
M. Marconi ◽  
V. Ripepi ◽  
R. Molinaro

AbstractIn the context of the STRucture and Evolution of the GAlaxy survey, we describe the preliminary results obtained for the fields around the globular cluster Pal 3 (about 2.75 square degrees), by exploiting the obtained g, r, i time series photometry. The final aim is to use variable stars as tools to verify and study the presence of streams around Pal 3. We found 20 candidate variable stars of which 7 RR Lyrae stars possibly belonging to Pal 3, also at large distance from the center. The distribution of the candidate RR Lyrae seems to confirm a preferential distribution in the north-east direction, confirming previous results in literature.


2019 ◽  
Vol 492 (1) ◽  
pp. 1061-1077 ◽  
Author(s):  
A Katherina Vivas ◽  
Alistair R Walker ◽  
Clara E Martínez-Vázquez ◽  
Matteo Monelli ◽  
Giuseppe Bono ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT Time series observations of a single dithered field centred on the diffuse dwarf satellite galaxy Crater II were obtained with the Dark Energy Camera (DECam) at the 4m Blanco Telescope at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory, Chile, uniformly covering up to two half-light radii. Analysis of the g and i time series results in the identification and characterization of 130 periodic variable stars, including 98 RR Lyrae stars, 7 anomalous Cepheids, and 1 SX Phoenicis star belonging to the Crater II population, and 24 foreground variables of different types. Using the large number of ab-type RR Lyrae stars present in the galaxy, we obtained a distance modulus to Crater II of (m − M)0 = 20.333 ± 0.004 (stat) ±0.07 (sys). The distribution of the RR Lyrae stars suggests an elliptical shape for Crater II, with an ellipticity of 0.24 and a position angle of 153°. From the RR Lyrae stars, we infer a small metallicity dispersion for the old population of Crater II of only 0.17 dex. There are hints that the most metal-poor stars in that narrow distribution have a wider distribution across the galaxy, while the slightly more metal-rich part of the population is more centrally concentrated. Given the features in the colour–magnitude diagram of Crater II, the anomalous Cepheids in this galaxy must have formed through a binary evolution channel of an old population.


2018 ◽  
Vol 618 ◽  
pp. A30 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. Holl ◽  
M. Audard ◽  
K. Nienartowicz ◽  
G. Jevardat de Fombelle ◽  
O. Marchal ◽  
...  

Context. The Gaia Data Release 2 (DR2) contains more than half a million sources that are identified as variable stars. Aims. We summarise the processing and results of the identification of variable source candidates of RR Lyrae stars, Cepheids, long-period variables (LPVs), rotation modulation (BY Dra-type) stars, δ Scuti and SX Phoenicis stars, and short-timescale variables. In this release we aim to provide useful but not necessarily complete samples of candidates. Methods. The processed Gaia data consist of the G, GBP, and GRP photometry during the first 22 months of operations as well as positions and parallaxes. Various methods from classical statistics, data mining, and time-series analysis were applied and tailored to the specific properties of Gaia data, as were various visualisation tools to interpret the data. Results. The DR2 variability release contains 228 904 RR Lyrae stars, 11 438 Cepheids, 151 761 LPVs, 147 535 stars with rotation modulation, 8882 δ Scuti and SX Phoenicis stars, and 3018 short-timescale variables. These results are distributed over a classification and various Specific Object Studies tables in the Gaia archive, along with the three-band time series and associated statistics for the underlying 550 737 unique sources. We estimate that about half of them are newly identified variables. The variability type completeness varies strongly as a function of sky position as a result of the non-uniform sky coverage and intermediate calibration level of these data. The probabilistic and automated nature of this work implies certain completeness and contamination rates that are quantified so that users can anticipate their effects. Thismeans that even well-known variable sources can be missed or misidentified in the published data. Conclusions. The DR2 variability release only represents a small subset of the processed data. Future releases will include more variable sources and data products; however, DR2 shows the (already) very high quality of the data and great promise for variability studies.


1993 ◽  
Vol 139 ◽  
pp. 338-338
Author(s):  
N.A. Silbermann ◽  
H.A. Smith ◽  
M. Bolte

AbstractWe present preliminary results of a program of CCD photometry of RR Lyrae variable stars in the globular clusters NGC 6388 and M15.


1973 ◽  
Vol 21 ◽  
pp. 178-179
Author(s):  
John Menzies

Abstract*.A study has been made of the variables in the Southern Hemisphere globular cluster NGC 6723, which is suspected of being relatively metal-rich on the basis of its colour-magnitude diagram and of its integrated spectral type of G3. Seven new RR Lyrae stars and two bright red, probably semiregular, variables have been found and the suspected variable of Fourcade and Laborde has been confirmed. The complement of RR Lyrae stars is now 27, consisting of 4 c-type and 23 ab-type variables, the mean periods being Pc = 0.d292 and Pab = 0.d537. On the basis of the two-colour diagram of the horizontal branch stars the cluster is considered to be virtually un-reddened. Applying Christy’s models to the data from this study we find the following parameters for the variables: Mv= 1.m10, mass = 0.42 M⊙, and Y=0.4.


1993 ◽  
Vol 139 ◽  
pp. 358-358
Author(s):  
C. G. Goldsmith

This project was initiated in 1985 by James Nemec (University of Washington) and Nicholas Suntzeff (C.T.I.O.). The goal was to study the system of ∼600 variable stars in the Sculptor dwarf galaxy. In 1987 the author became the recipient of the plate collection, which formed the basis for his Ph.D. dissertation. In this paper preliminary results are presented. Briefly, 612 stars were studied, of which 432 are van Agt (1978) stars and 180 are newly discovered variable stars. A total of 381 stars are confirmed variables. Most of these are RR Lyraes, but many anomalous Cepheids and some candidate eclipsing variables were also found. Several candidate double-mode RR Lyrae stars were also identified. The mean period of the ab-type RR Lyrae stars is 0.60±0.08 day, and the mean period of the c-type stars is 0.35±0.03 day, not unlike the mean periods of other nearby dwarf galaxies.


1988 ◽  
Vol 126 ◽  
pp. 591-592
Author(s):  
Christine M. Clement ◽  
James M. Nemec ◽  
Robert J. Dickens ◽  
Elizabeth A. Bingham

Thirteen double-mode RR Lyrae (RRd) stars, with mean magnitudes c = 18.30 ± 0.10 and <V>c = 17.80 ± 0.15, have been identified in the variable-rich Oosterhoff type I globular cluster IC 4499. The stars have surprisingly uniform properties, and are considerably different from RRd stars found in Oo II systems. The mean first-overtone period (Fig.1) is <P1>=0.357d ± 0.005d (cf. <P1>=0.40d for Oo II RRd stars), and the mean ratio of the first-overtone period to the fundamental period is <P1/P0>= 0.7443 ± 0.0002. The mean double-mode pulsation mass for the 13 stars, using the King Ia (Y=0.279, Z=0.001) mass calibration, is 0.535 ± 0.003 M⊙. Such an average mass is 0.11 M⊙ smaller (i.e. ~17% smaller) than that for RRd stars found in Oo II systems, and possibly ~0.01 M⊙smaller than the mean mass for the two RRd stars in M3 (it is important to note that the zero point of these mass determinations is uncertain by at least 15%). The metal abundances for the RRd stars, and for the system of RR Lyrae stars as a whole, are found to be consistent with <[Fe/H]>=-1.38 ± 0.20, determined from δS spectroscopy. In the Peterson diagram (Fig.2), all known RRd stars now divide (apparently by mass) into two groups (split according to Oosterhoff type). With a reddening of EB-V=0.26 ± 0.03, the cluster distance modulus is (m-M)o=16.23m ± 0.23m.


2002 ◽  
Vol 185 ◽  
pp. 140-141
Author(s):  
Y.-B. Jeon ◽  
S.-L. Kim ◽  
H. Lee ◽  
M.G. Lee

AbstractThrough time-series CCD photometry of the globular cluster M 53, we have discovered eight new SX Phoenicis type stars. All the new SX Phoenicis stars are located in the blue straggler star region in the color-magnitude diagram of M 53. In addition, we have obtained light curves for 45 known RR Lyrae stars.


1975 ◽  
Vol 67 ◽  
pp. 541-543
Author(s):  
A. V. Mironov ◽  
N. N. Samus'

The dependences of the numbers of variable stars in globular clusters on the chemical composition are studied. For given metallicity the numbers of RR Lyrae stars reduced to some definite total number of stars in the cluster are different for the two groups of globular clusters introduced by Mironov.


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