Deep census of variable stars in a VLT/VIMOS field in Carina

P. PIETRUKOWICZ; D. MINNITI; J.M. FERNÁNDEZ; G. PIETRZYNSKI; M.T. RUIZ; W. GIEREN; R. F. DÍAZ; M. ZOCCALI; M. HEMPEL

ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS

EDP Sciences

Lugar: Les Ulis, Francia; Año: 2009 vol. 503 p. 651 - 662

0004-6361

We have searched for variable stars in deep V-band images of a field towards the Galactic plane in Carina. The images were taken with VIMOS instrument at ESO VLT during 4 contiguous nights in April 2005. We detected 348 variables among 50897 stars in the magnitude range between V=15.4 and V=24.5 mag. Upon detection, we classified the variables by direct eye inspection of their light curves. All variable objects but 9 OGLE transits in the field are new discoveries. We provide a complete catalog of all variables which includes eclipsing/ellipsoidal binaries, miscellaneous pulsators (mostly delta Scuti-type variables), stars with flares and other (irregular and likely long-period) variables. Only two of the stars in our sample are known to host planets. Our result give some implications for future large variability surveys.