Photoelectric Photometry Archive

Published in commissions27 amd 42 of the IAU
Information Bulletin Variable Stars numer 37, 39, 20 June 1992

The AAVSO photoelectric photometry program was established about ten years ago by Janet A. Mattei and John R. Percy to obtain long-term, high-precision observations of stars with variations too small to be monitored by visual techniques. Some of these stars have larger-amplitude variations on one time scale, and smaller-amplitude variations on another. The original program included 51 semi-regular red variables, 6 yellow supergiants (RV Tau and SRd), and 13 variables of other or unknown kind. A few additional stars have subsequently been added, either by us or at the request of other astronomers.

Most of the stars are between magnitudes 4 and 7; Betelgeuse is a very bright exception. They typically have amplitudes of a few tenths of a magnitude, time scales of weeks or months, and generally semi-regular or irregular light curves. All are well suited for long-term monitoring from small "backyard" observatories.

John R. Percy co-ordinates the scientific aspects of the program, with advice from AAVSO Headquarters, and edits the AAVSO Photoelectric Newsletter which is published three times a year.

The program has now produced over 7,000 observations. In addition to the observations of the "program stars" listed in Table 1, there are observations of about 30 small-amplitude red variables, obtained as part of "Project SARV" (Percy 1991a). Table 1 gives the name and position (epoch 2000) of each program star, the number of observations obtained in each year (and in total), the spectral type, the variable star type, range and period (from the General Catalogue of Variable Stars). The range is visual unless denoted B (blue) or p (photographic). The results of our observations of some of these stars (marked with an * in the last column) have been discussed in a brief review by Percy (1991b);

The following observers have contributed data to the archive:

Paul Beckmann (46), Bill Barksdale (246), Wayne Clark (95), Louis Cox (27), David Curott (402), Robert DeMartino (1), Frank Dempsey (150), ALes Dolzan (3), George Fortier (162), Guillermo Gonzalez (2), Robert Johnsson (54), Koster (deceased) (83), George Kohl (354), Paul Kneipp (82), Kenneth Luedeke (399), Howard Landis (1085), Thomas Langhans (266), Frank Mellilo (8), Russell Milton (688), Donald Pray (362), Mike Potter (17), Harry Powell (144), Luciano Pazzi (12), Gordon Ripley (6), Robert Reisenweber (190), Donald Shannon (15), Douglas Slauson (16), Mike Smith (672), Lee Snyder (124), Jim Soder (deceased) (10), Hans Sorensen (228), Robert Schmidt (30), Raymond Thompson (387), Jim Waller (9), Paul Werner (1), David Williams (8), Jim Wood (948), Thoams Walker (38), Rick Wasatonic (154).

Copies of the data can be obtained on paper or diskette by writing to AAVSO Headquarters, 25 Birch Street, Cambridge MA 02138-1205, USA (phone (617) 354-0484; Fax (617) 354-0665, e-mail AAVSO@CFA8). There is a nominal charge to cover the handling and mailing of the data.

Acknowledgements.
We thank all of the observers listed above for their contribution to the AAVSO Photoelectric Archive.

References
Percy, J. R. 1991a, IAPPP Communications #45, 24
Percy, J. R. 1991b, IAPPP Communications #45, 33