- HEASARC Director: Dr. Alan P. Smale
- HEASARC Associate Director: Dr. Roger Brissenden
- NASA Official: Phil Newman
- Web Curator: Meredith Gibb
- Last Modified: 30-Nov-2011
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AAVSOVSX - AAVSO International Variable Star Index |
HEASARC Archive |
The database consisted initially of the General Catalogue of Variable Stars (GCVS) and the New Catalogue of Suspected Variables (NSV) and was then supplemented with a large number of variable star catalogues, as well as individual variable star discoveries or variables found in the literature. Effort has also been invested to update the entries with the latest information regarding position, type and period and to remove duplicates. The VSX database is being continually updated and maintained.
For historical reasons some objects outside of the Galaxy have been included.
The AAVSO International Variable Star Index
Watson C., Henden A.A., Price A.
<AAVSO (2009)>
=2006SASS...25...47W
Source_Number
An internal source identifier for each source in the
catalog which can be used to link out to the AAVSO database.
Name
The variable star name.
Variability_Flag
This flag parameter indicates the degree of confidence in
the variability of the star:
0 = Variable, 1 = Suspected variable, 2 = Constant or non-existent
RA
The Right Ascension of the star in the selected equinox. This was
given in J2000.0 coordinates to a precision of 10-5 degrees in the
original table.
Dec
The Declination of the star in the selected equinox. This was
given in J2000.0 coordinates to a precision of 10-5 degrees in the
original table.
LII
The Galactic Longitude of the star.
BII
The Galactic Latitude othe star.
Variability_Type
The variability type, as used in the GCVS Catalog and
described in detail at ftp://cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr/pub/cats/B/gcvs/vartype.txt.
Max_Mag_Type
This flag parameter is set to '(' to indicate that the
corresponding max_mag value is an amplitude.
Max_Mag_Limit
This parameter contains in some cases upper or lower limit
flag for the value of the max_mag parameter.
Max_Mag
The magnitude at maximum, if max_mag_type = ' ', or the amplitude
of variability, if max_mag_type = '('.
Max_Mag_Flag
This flag parameter is set to ':' if the corresponding
max_mag values is considered uncertain.
Max_Mag_System
The passband in which the value of the max_mag parameter
was measured. Passbands used include the following:
U B V R I = Johnson broad-band
J H K L M = Johnson infra-red (1.2, 1.6, 2.2, 3.5, 5um)
R_c I_c = Cousins' red and infra-red
u v b y = Stroemgren intermediate-band
u'g'r'i'z' = Sloan (SDSS)
pg pv bj rf = photographic blue (pg, bj) visual (pv), red (rf)
w C CR CV = white (clear); R or V used for comparison star.
R1 = ROTSE-I (450-1000nm)
Hp T = Hipparcos and Tycho (CDS Cat. I/239)
NUV = near-UV
Min_Mag_Type
This flag parameter is set to '(' to indicate that the
corresponding min_mag value is an amplitude relative to the max_mag value
rather than the magnitude at minimum.
Min_Mag_Limit
This parameter contains in some cases upper or lower limit
flag for the value of the min_mag parameter.
Min_Mag
The magnitude at minimum, if min_mag_type = ' ', or the amplitude
of variability, if min_mag_type = '('.
Min_Mag_Flag
This flag parameter is set to ':' if the corresponding
max_mag value is considered uncertain.
Min_Mag_System
The passband in which the value of the min_mag parameter
was measured. Passbands used include the following:
U B V R I = Johnson broad-band
J H K L M = Johnson infra-red (1.2, 1.6, 2.2, 3.5, 5um)
R_c I_c = Cousins' red and infra-red
u v b y = Stroemgren intermediate-band
u'g'r'i'z' = Sloan (SDSS)
pg pv bj rf = photographic blue (pg, bj) visual (pv), red (rf)
w C CR CV = white (clear); R or V used for comparison star.
R1 = ROTSE-I (450-1000nm)
Hp T = Hipparcos and Tycho (CDS Cat. I/239)
NUV = near-UV
Epoch
The epoch of maximum or minimum of the variability, in heliocentric
Julian Date (HJD). This was given to a maximum precision of 10-4 days in the
original table.
Epoch_Flag
This flag parameter is set to ':' if the corresponding
epoch value is considered uncertain.
Period_Limit
This flag parameter for the period is set to
'>' or '<' if the period is a lower or upper limit, respectively, or to
'(' to indicate that the period is the mean cycle time of a U Gem or
recurrent nova (in the latter case the period_flag parameter contains a
closing bracket).
Period
The period of the variable star, in days. This was given to a
maximum precision of 10-10 days in the original table.
Period_Flag
This flag parameter can contain the following possible
symbols:
: = uncertainty flag
) = value of the mean cycle for U Gem or recurrent nova
(the corresponding opening bracket exists in l_Period)
*N = the real period is likely a multiple of the quoted period
/N = the period quoted is likely a multiple of the real period
Ref_Bibcode_1
The bibliographic code (bibcode) in the standard ADS style
of a paper discussing the variable star.
Ref_Bibcode_2
The bibliographic code (bibcode) in the standard ADS style
of a second paper discussing the variable star.
Ref_Bibcode_Others
The bibliographic codes (bibcode) in the standard ADS
style of additional papers discussing the variable star. To see the
abstract of any of the papers referenced by a bibcode, the user should
go add the prefix "adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/bib_query?" in front
of each bibcode listed, e.g.,
http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/bib_query?1961LowOB...5...61G.
Class
The HEASARC Browse object classification, based on the value of
the variability_type parameter.