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LOST VARIABLES  IN  SAGITTARIUS  AND  CYGNUS  RECOVERED ON  NANTUCKET  PLATES

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Nikolai Samus

Institute of Astronomy

Russian Academy of Sciences

48 Pyatnitskaya St.

Moscow 109017

Russia

Sternberg Astronomical Institute

13, University Ave.

Moscow 119899

Russia

and

Maria Mitchell Observatory

3 Vestal St.

Nantucket, MA 02554

Courtney Peterson

Georgetown University

Department of Physics

506 Reiss Science Building

37th and O Streets, N.W.

Washington, DC 20057

and

Maria Mitchell Observatory

Shadrian Holmes

College of Charleston

Department of Physics and Astronomy

66 George St.

Charleston, SC 29424

and

Maria Mitchell Observatory

Karyn Singer

Duke University

Box 96372

Durham, NC 27708

and

Maria Mitchell Observatory

Presented at the 89th Annual Meeting of the AAVSO, October 28, 2000

Abstract

Mass discoveries of variable stars by modern automatic sky surveys make it very important to determine accurate coordinates for all previously documented variable stars. For many “old” variable stars, no finding charts were ever published, and only rough coordinates were reported. Existing collections of sky photographs, however, make it possible to recover such “lost” variable stars. Here, we present our results on the recovery of nine “lost” variable stars: NY Cyg, QX Cyg, VW Sgr, GW Sgr, GZ Sgr, HK Sgr, HT Sgr, HU Sgr, and HW Sgr, using plates from the Maria Mitchell Observatory collection in Nantucket, Massachusetts. For the stars recovered, we present finder charts, accurate coordinates, improved classification, and light elements. In the case of HW Sgr, there is an indisputably variable star approximately in the published position, but the character of its variability is in complete disagreement with earlier data. Either HW Sgr was misclassified by the discoverer, or the discoverer’s position for the star is in error and we have actually discovered a new variable.

Link to ADS abstract, article and citation information