Tue, 02/11/2014 - 05:33
Hi, my name is Jacob and I have found myself in a small predicament. I am new to the observation of variable stars, so I am not completely familiar with the navigation of the site by any means. That being said, the problem I need some advice on how to solve is thus: for an undergradute research project I am working on, I need a good cataclysmic variable to work with, and it has to have a magnitude of >10Mv. How would I go about finding information on these stars?
SS Cyg is 8 mag at max, 12 at min. Information on this star: see the entry in VSX or in Simbad; also, you can find lots of hits (1500+) on SS Cyg in the literature database ADS.
/Gustav, HGUA
You can search VSX for UG%, and sort by maximum magnitude to get a preliminary list. Then cut out all with declination south of -20. Cut all UGWZ, because you'll have to wait a decade or more to see them in outburst, and I also cut out the suspected variables to get the list of CVs brighter than 11 at max below (sorted by type).
The UGSS and UGZ will be the most active stars. I'd probably stick to those.
Hope that helps.
Mike Simonsen
AAVSO
Both answers steered me perfectly in the right direction. I gladly appreciate the help. Good to know that help is available!