The Behlen Observatory Variable Star Survey: First Results

Various light curve parameters are presented for the first 93 objects in a photometric survey of poorly studied variable stars. Stars from the General Catalogue of Variable Stars (GCVS) fainter than tenth magnitude, north of the equator which were classified as pulsating variables (but excluding the long period, semiregular, and irregular variables) were included. It is shown that two parameters, the acuteness and the rise time, are useful for characterizing the light curves. Several criteria are applied to the photometric data to test the classification of the stars. For 26 stars new or improved classifications are suggested. In particular, there are six eclipsing or ellipsoidal variables among the 79 stars classed in the GCVS as RR Lyrae stars. This suggests that there are likely to be four to five hundred binaries with short period which are misclassified as RR Lyrae stars. Additionally, four stars are reclassified as s Cepheids and three stars exhibit peculiarities which make their classification suspect. The periods of fourteen of the stars are found to be seriously in error while small adjustments for an additional eighteen are made. The cause of these discrepancies is discussed.