English

Stellar Variability in the VVV survey

Solar and Stellar Astrophysics 2013-11-06 v2

Abstract

The Vista Variables in the V\'ia L\'actea (VVV) ESO Public Survey is an ongoing time-series, near-infrared (IR) survey of the Galactic bulge and an adjacent portion of the inner disk, covering 562 square degrees of the sky, using ESO's VISTA telescope. The survey has provided superb multi-color photometry in 5 broadband filters (ZZ, YY, JJ, HH, and KsK_s), leading to the best map of the inner Milky Way ever obtained, particularly in the near-IR. The main variability part of the survey, which is focused on KsK_s-band observations, is currently underway, with bulge fields having been observed between 31 and 70 times, and disk fields between 17 and 36 times. When the survey is complete, bulge (disk) fields will have been observed up to a total of 100 (60) times, providing unprecedented depth and time coverage. Here we provide a first overview of stellar variability in the VVV data, including examples of the light curves that have been collected thus far, scientific applications, and our efforts towards the automated classification of VVV light curves.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1310.1996,
  title  = {Stellar Variability in the VVV survey},
  author = {M. Catelan and D. Minniti and P. W. Lucas and I. Dékány and R. K. Saito and R. Angeloni and J. Alonso-García and M. Hempel and K. Helminiak and A. Jordán and R. Contreras Ramos and C. Navarrete and J. C. Beamín and A. F. Rojas and F. Gran and C. E. Ferreira Lopes and C. Contreras Peña and E. Kerins and L. Huckvale and M. Rejkuba and R. Cohen and F. Mauro and J. Borissova and P. Amigo and S. Eyheramendy and K. Pichara and N. Espinoza and C. Navarro and G. Hajdu and D. N. Calderón Espinoza and G. A. Muro and H. Andrews and V. Motta and R. Kurtev and J. P. Emerson and C. Moni Bidin and A. -N. Chené},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1310.1996},
  year   = {2013}
}

Comments

Presented at the "40 Years of Variable Stars: A Celebration of Contributions by Horace A. Smith" conference (arXiv:1310.0149). 49 pages, 28 figures

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