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The Search for New Variables with a Blink Telescope

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Barbara A. Capron

Maria Mitchell Observatory, Nantucket, Massachusetts

Abstract

This paper will describe the method of variable star discovery and verification employed at the Maria Mitchell Observatory, using the rodman Blink microscope, which was designed and built by Dr. James P. Rodman, and installed in the Observatory in the summer of 1970. Photographic plates are first examined on the blink microscope. Any suspected vriables are then located and confirmed as new variables or identified as old variables rediscovered. In what follows, reference will be made to applications of the method in examining plates of a region in Sagittarius and to results of the author's search in that region.