Discovery of 30,000 Periodic Variables in the Southern Sky

Drake, Andrew J.; Djorgovski, Stanislav G.; Graham, Matthew; Catelan, Márcio; Torrealba, Gabriel; Mahabal, Ashish A.; Christensen, Eric J.; Larson, Stephen M.; McNaught, Robert; Garradd, Gordon

Discovery of 30,000 Periodic Variables in the Southern Sky

Date

2016

Authors

Drake, Andrew J.

Djorgovski, Stanislav G.

Abstract

We have completed a search for periodic variable stars within the 30,000 square degrees of the sky covered by the Catalina Surveys. Here we present the results from our analysis of six years of optical photometry taken by the Siding Spring Survey (SSS). This data covers 200 million sources at declinations between -20 and -75 degrees in the magnitude range 11 < V < 19. In addition to the 10,000 RR Lyrae that we previously discovered in this data, we find approximately 30,000 new periodic variable stars. These sources include, eclipsing binaries, RR Lyrae, LPVs, RSCVn stars, delta Scutis and Anomalous Cepheids.As part of our ongoing search for structure within the Galactic halo we determine the distances to each of the type-ab RR Lyrae. We discover that many of these stars appear to belong to the old stellar halo of the LMC. Our analysis suggests that the stellar halo of the LMC extends far beyond the limits previously observed....