Monthly Archives: November 2011

The companion of W Aurigae

Posted on November 20, 2011 by Gustav Holmberg

Looking up W Aurigae in the Simbad database, we find that it is a double star, Cou 1725. Paul Couteau discovered the double star nature of W Aur in 1979, when he measured the star on three nights. The stars … Continue reading →

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W Aur

Posted on November 17, 2011 by Gustav Holmberg

Lydia Ceraski discovered 219 variable stars (or 180 – the literature disagrees somewhat). Among them are important ones such as SU UMa, RV Tauri and T UMi. Despite that, not much is known about her. She graduated from the Petersburg … Continue reading →

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V370 And

Posted on November 15, 2011 by Gustav Holmberg

The discovery and observation of variables are sometimes the byproducts of astronomical projects and instruments doing other things. Current examples include the Kepler and CoRot missions. Hipparcos, the very successful European space astrometry telescope, also measured photometry, and it found … Continue reading →

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The demoting of VW Dra

Posted on November 13, 2011 by Gustav Holmberg

I am setting up a programme of variables to observe, and when I searched through AAVSO:s observation planner two weeks ago for semiregular variables bright enough for my binoculars (and the very light-polluted sky where I live), one of the … Continue reading →

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R Ari

Posted on November 9, 2011 by Gustav Holmberg

One of the great visual surveys of the northen sky was done at Bonn by Friedrich Wilhelm Argelander with the aid of his asistants Eduard Schönfeld and Adalbert Krüger. They observed the sky north of -2 degrees declination during the … Continue reading →

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V538 Cas

Posted on November 4, 2011 by Gustav Holmberg

BD 60deg 201 is a star in Cassiopeia. Its variability was discovered by R. Weber. It was one of 75 new variables announced in 1958 after analysis of 2 068 photographic plates exposed between 1942 and 1958 using three cameras … Continue reading →

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R Dra

Posted on November 2, 2011 by Gustav Holmberg

I’m writing a series of posts on objects I observe or find interesting for other reasons. Let’s start it off with R Dra. This Mira with a period of 246 days varies between 6.7 and 13.2 visually. Its variability was … Continue reading →

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