Monthly Archives: November 2011
The companion of W Aurigae
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
V370 And
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
The demoting of VW Dra
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
R Ari
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
V538 Cas
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
R Dra
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
