A Near-Infrared Survey of Northern Galactic Cepheid Variable Stars
Abstract
We present the results from a near-infrared (NIR) synoptic survey of Northern Galactic Cepheid Variable Stars undertaken at the University of Wyoming's 0.6m telescope at Red Buttes Observatory (RBO). The observations were carried out using BIRCAM (Buttes InfraRed CAMera), a NIR camera developed for use at RBO. The sample consists of 134 fundamental mode cepheids ranging in periods from 3-60 days. Each Cepheid has been observed at 15-30 epochs spanning the full phase with J, H and K photometry at each epoch. The primary purpose of this survey is to provide ground-based NIR photometry of a large sample of Galactic Cepheids, which will compliment future trigonometric parallax data from the GAIA / SIM missions to better define the NIR Cepheid Period-Luminosity Relation and improve the calibration of the Hubble Constant. Results are presented, including the serendipitous discovery of 50+ previously unknown long period variables.
- Publication:
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American Astronomical Society Meeting Abstracts #214
- Pub Date:
- May 2009
- Bibcode:
- 2009AAS...21443004M