DISCOVERED VARIABLE STARS
As a fan of astronomy, there are few things as exciting as discovering something new or unknown when you explore the sky with the telescope. That's why I set myself the goal of searching for variable stars not listed as such. For this purpose, the amateur has a specific database for variable stars, the International Variable Star Index (VSX), in which more than 400,000 variable stars are catalogued, which supports the reporting of new variables and is organised in such a way that a moderator supervises the information reported to guarantee the consistency and suitability of the data.
Apparently it may seem difficult to find new variables when more than 400,000 are already catalogued, but the fact is that there are many unknown variable stars and their discovery is within the reach of an amateur with modest equipment. But it does require a lot of patience and constancy because you have to take a lot of photos to detect and above all to characterize a variable star. In my experience, it is necessary to take hundreds of photos to have enough data to characterize the light curve of a variable star and to be able to report essential data to be admitted and incorporated into the catalogue of variable stars. Among the necessary data we can indicate: which type of variable star, period, range of variation, time of maximum or minimum according to type of variable, duration of the eclipse if applicable, etc.
The most interesting part of this activity is precisely the analysis of the captured data, since it is when it is necessary to carry out a learning and research process to, based on the information available, represent the light curve in phase and find out what type of variable star it is. There are so many nuances that it is necessary to combine the range with the period, the shape, the spectral type of the star, etc. In short, it is a very interesting way to learn while getting the satisfaction of discovering.
I have been fortunate to have the supervision of Sebastian Otero, a renowned international variable star observer, and from his comments and corrections I have gradually learned to make a better interpretation of the measurements of the variables and to know them better.
The light curves of the variables discovered are shown below:
