Suspected variables among Al Sufi stars.

In the tenth century Al Sufi compiled a catalogue of some 1100 stars. J.E. Gore, around 1900, wrote extensively on the magnitudes of these stars. On intercomparing them with a few other catalogues, Gore surmised that some 38 stars appeared to show secular variations. Here all the Al Sufi magnitudes have been compared with numerous additional sources, but smooth secular variations are not substantiated although some stars seem to have undergone comparatively sudden changes after about 1600. About 70 Al Sufi stars are now named or suscpected variable stars, but nearly all with amplitudes under 0.3 V.