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Recent Russian Literature on Variable Stars

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Wayne M. Lowder

Scarsdale, New York

Abstract

Soviet astronomers have long been in the forefront of variable star research. Much of the resulting literature is readily available in the United States only to those who combine some familiarity with the language with access to large observatory libraries. Fortunately, the single most valuable contribution to the literature from the Soviet Union, the "General Catalog of Variable Stars" (Third Edition, 1969-70), is available with English translation from AAVSO Headquarters. This three-volume compendium, updated periodically with supplements, is the result of the considerable labors of a group at the Sternberg State Astronomical Institute of the Moscow State University directed by B. V. Kukarkin. Two other imporartnat publications by the same institution are the "Catalog of Suspected Variable Stars" and the journal "Variable Stars".