Future of the General Catalogue of Variable Stars from the Experience of Recent Name-lists

We briefly outline the history of the General Catalogue of Variable Stars (GCVS) and the New Catalogue of Suspected Variable Stars (NSV catalogue). Recently, we have completed a revision of the NSV catalogue. Positional information was checked for all its stars and, in many cases, new photometric data were added. As a result, one third of all NSV stars have been transferred to the GCVS. Having determined equatorial coordinates for variable stars in globular star clusters, we began to add them to the GCVS. Two Name-lists published so far contain more than 1700 variable stars in 36 globular clusters; an additional Name-list (about 900 variable stars in 27 globular clusters) will be published before the end of 2021. We discuss problem cases in the literature and in the Catalogue of Variable Stars in Galactic Globular Clusters revealed during our preparation of the Name-lists. The future of traditional catalogues of variable stars (GCVS; AAVSO Variable-star Data Index VSX) is discussed.

Statistical detection of a tidal stream associated with the globular cluster M68 using Gaia data

ABSTRACT A method to search for tidal streams and to fit their orbits based on maximum likelihood is presented and applied to the Gaia data. Tests of the method are performed showing how a simulated stream produced by tidal stripping of a star cluster is recovered when added to a simulation of the Gaia catalogue. The method can be applied to search for streams associated with known progenitors or to do blind searches in a general catalogue. As the first example, we apply the method to the globular cluster M68 and detect its clear tidal stream stretching over the whole North Galactic hemisphere, and passing within 5 kpc of the Sun. This is one of the closest tidal streams to us detected so far, and is highly promising to provide new constraints on the Milky Way gravitational potential, for which we present preliminary fits finding a slightly oblate dark halo consistent with other observations. We identify the M68 tidal stream with the previously discovered Fjörm stream by Ibata et al. The tidal stream is confirmed to contain stars that are consistent with the HR-diagram of M68. We provide a list of 115 stars that are most likely to be stream members, and should be prime targets for follow-up spectroscopic studies.

Anomalous Cepheids discovered in a sample of galactic short period Type II Cepheids

We revisited the short period Type II Cepheids (T2Cs), called the BL Herculis (BLHs), in the Galactic Field to derive a homogeneous analysis of their Fourier parameters. Only V-band data were compiled to make sure that it was directly comparable between the known variables of the OGLE-III catalogue and the 59 individual objects classified as short period Type II Cepheids in the General Catalogue of Variable Stars (GCVS) we had in our sample. The derived Fourier parameters were used to make distinction between different classes of variables. From the 59 stars we found 19 BLHs, 19 fundamental mode Anomalous Cepheids (ACs) (8 of them were already known from the Catalina Sky Survey (CSS)), 1 first overtone AC, 2 were found to be possible peculiar W Virginis (pWVir), 11 classical Cepheids (DCEPs), and 7 stars were not pulsating variables at all. As a result we created a list of bright BLH stars in the Galactic Field, and separated the ACs, as well as other objects that were misclassified. The number of true BLHs decreased in our sample by more than 50%. We gathered the metallicity from spectroscopic measurements published in literature. While the number of actual measurements is low, it is highly suggestive that ACs are metal poor. The mean metallicity from 8 measurements in 4 stars (UY Eri having 5 different [Fe/H] data points) is -1.12 dex, but if the higher value metallicity outliers of UY Eri are left out the mean metallicity becomes -1.88 dex, regardless if the AC is in the Milky Way itself or in a cluster. On the other hand, BLHs seem to have a Solar-like metallicity of 0.00 dex averaged from 21 measurements of 10 stars.

Transcaucasian Iron Age Metal Horse Bits

The goal of the present study is to present a general catalogue followed by a discussion of metal horse bits found in Transcaucasia, mostly from the Iron Age. Starting from the earliest evidence dating to the last stage of the Late Bronze Age, all types of metal bits attributable to indigenous cultures are considered. Urartian and Scythian metal bits are not included, since they have already been widely studied, thus keeping the range of this analysis from the Late Bronze Age to the Achaemenid period.