57 research outputs found
The Meinunger "Nicht Rote" Objects
Four high-latitude slow variable stars have been noted by Meinunger (1972) as
"nicht rote" ("not red") objects and thus curious. We have previously reported
(Margon & Deutsch 1997) that one of these objects, CC Boo, is in fact a QSO.
Here we present observations demonstrating that the remaining three are also
highly variable active galactic nuclei. The most interesting object of the four
is perhaps S 10765 (= NGP9 F324-0276706), which proves to be a resolved galaxy
at z=0.063. Despite the rapid and large reported variability amplitude (~1.6
mag), the spectrum is that of a perfectly normal galaxy, with no emission lines
or evident nonthermal continuum. We also present new spectroscopic and
photometric observations for AR CVn, suggested by Meinunger to be an RR Lyrae
star despite its very faint magnitude (=19.4). The object is indeed one of
the most distant RR Lyrae stars known, at a galactocentric distance of ~40 kpc.Comment: Accepted for publication in Publications of the Astronomical Society
of the Pacific, Volume 111, January 1999; 14 pages including 4 figures and 1
tabl
The anomalous Cepheid XZ Ceti
XZ Ceti is the only known anomalous Cepheid in the Galactic field. Being the
nearest and brightest such variable star, a detailed study of XZ Ceti may shed
light on the behaviour of anomalous Cepheids whose representatives have been
mostly detected in external galaxies. CCD photometric and radial velocity
observations have been obtained. The actual period and amplitude of pulsation
were determined by Fourier analysis. The long time scale behaviour of the
pulsation period was studied by the method of the O-C diagram using the
archival Harvard photographic plates and published photometric data. XZ Ceti
differs from the ordinary classical Cepheids in several respects. Its most
peculiar feature is cycle-to-cycle variability of the light curve. The radial
velocity phase curve is not stable either. The pulsation period is subjected to
strong changes on various time scales including a very short one. The ratio of
amplitudes determined from the photometric and radial velocity observations
indicates that this Cepheid performs an overtone pulsation, in accord with the
other known anomalous Cepheid in our Galaxy, BL Boo (V19 in the globular
cluster NGC 5466). Continued observations are necessary to study the deviations
from regularity, to determine their time scale, as well as to confirm binarity
of XZ Ceti and to study its role in the observed peculiar behaviour.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures. accepted for Astron. Astrophy
V371 Per - A Thick-Disk, Short-Period F/1O Cepheid
V371 Per was found to be a double-mode Cepheid with a fundamental mode period
of 1.738 days, the shortest among Galactic beat Cepheids, and an unusually high
period ratio of 0.731, while the other Galactic beat Cepheids have period
ratios between 0.697 and 0.713. The latter suggests that the star has a
metallicity [Fe/H] between -1 and -0.7. The derived distance from the Galactic
Plane places it in the Thick Disk or the Halo, while all other Galactic beat
Cepheids belong to the Thin Disk. There are indications from historical data
that both the fundamental and first overtone periods have lengthened.Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRA
Variable Stars in Galactic Globular Clusters
Based on a search of the literature up to May 2001, the number of known
variable stars in Galactic globular clusters is approximately 3000. Of these,
more than 2200 have known periods and the majority (approximately 1800) are of
the RR Lyrae type. In addition to the RR Lyrae population, there are
approximately 100 eclipsing binaries, 120 SX Phe variables, 60 Cepheids
(including population II Cepheids, anomalous Cepheids and RV Tauri) and 120
SR/red variables. The mean period of the fundamental mode RR Lyrae variables is
0.585, for the overtone variables it is 0.342 (0.349 for the first-overtone
pulsators and 0.296 for the second-overtone pulsators) and approximately 30%
are overtone pulsators. These numbers indicate that about 65% of RR Lyrae
variables in Galactic globular clusters belong to Oosterhoff type I systems.
The mean period of the RR Lyrae variables in the Oosterhoff type I clusters
seems to be correlated with metal abundance in the sense that the periods are
longer in the more metal poor clusters. Such a correlation does not exist for
the Oosterhoff type II clusters. Most of the Cepheids are in clusters with blue
horizontal branches.Comment: 45 pages, 10 figures, to be published in AJ November 200
Photometric study of the very short period shallow contact binary DD Comae Berenices
The first photometric solutions of the very short period (VSP) close binary DD Comae Berenices (P = 0fd26920811) based on our new complete (IR)C light curves are derived by the 2003 version Wilson-Van Hamme code. They show that the system belongs to shallow contact W-type W UMa systems with a degree of overcontact of 8.7%. The observed light curve distortions are explained by employing the spots model due to the late-type nature of both components. We have collected all available photometric data about the system with emphasis on the individual observational data, which we treated simultaneously using our own method based on the usage of computed model light curves as templates. We recalculated published times of light minimum and added new ones of our own to construct an O â C diagram that spans over 70 years. Using a least squares method orthogonal quadratic model function, we found that the orbital period of DD Com is continuously increasing with s yrâ1. The period increase may be caused by the mass transfer from the less-massive component to the more-massive one. With the period increase, the binary is evolving from the present shallow contact phase to the broken stage predicted by the thermal relaxation oscillation (TRO) theory. Compared with other VSP systems, DD Com is a rare system that lies on the expanding phase of the TRO cycle. Until now, only four such systems including DD Com are found in this stage. Thus, this target is another good observational proof of the TRO theory in a very short period region
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