Lomonosov Moscow State University Institute of Astronomy Russian Academy of Sciences

The present electronic version of the General Catalogue of Variable Stars, GCVS5.1, is available from Sternberg Astronomical Institute (Lomonosov Moscow University) and Institute of Astronomy (Russian Academy of Sciences) at http://www.sai.msu.su/gcvs/gcvs/ as a first release of the fifth GCVS edition. Information on the contents and principles of the fifth edition can be found in Samus et al. (2017), the official reference to GCVS 5.1.

The GCVS 5.1 version contains data for individual variable objects discovered and named as variable stars by 2021 and located mainly in the Milky Way galaxy. The total number of named variable stars, not counting designated non-existing stars or stars subsequently identified with earlier-named variables, is now 58035. The stars of the GCVS 5.1 are stars of the GCVS fourth edition plus Name-lists Nos. 67–85. The stars from the Name-lists Nos.78–85 are presented in the complete GCVS format. Complete information for stars of the Name-lists Nos. 67–77 is so far provided in the first 20 constellations (Andromeda–Cepheus). In these constellations, the GCVS information has been completely revised with active use of new publications as well as observations retrieved by the GCVS compilers by data mining and used to determine new variability types and new light elements whenever possible. We continue this work and will introduce new data for the next constellations as soon as they are ready.

The information at our site is regularly updated (corrections of detected mistakes, improvements of identifications and coordinates, etc.). It will also be appended with stars from upcoming Name-lists of variable stars.

Besides the main Table, the GCVS 5.1 version contains: a table of 220 000 identifications of variable stars with other catalogues (crossid.txt); the files of remarks (remark.txt) and references to star studies and finding charts . To search for informationed contained in the GCVS, it is possible to use the system of queries at the GCVS web site. Possible queries are: by the GCVS (or NSV) star name; by coordinates; by variability type; by identifications with other catalogues. A query can also be based on a list contain any number of variable stars.

The GCVS Query Forms also return, in the case of queries by coordinates, variable stars in globular star clusters of our Galaxy whose equatorial coordinates were publishes by our team (Samus et al. 2009). We have now introduced the possibility to query by the globular cluster name and the variable star’s number in the Catalogue of Variable Stars in Globular Clusters (Coutts Clement, 2016); so far, such a query returns only the variable’s equatorial coordinates.

The site also contains Catalogue of Extragalactic Variable stars of the previous, fourth GCVS edition. Note that this Catalogue is no longer updated by the GCVS team, which currently considers only variable stars of our Galaxy as the scope of its work.

Also, the site contains the New Catalogue of Suspected Variable Stars and its Supplement.

Upon recommendations of the IAU Commissions 27 and 42, in 2006, we developed a new experimental system of classification for variable stars.

Samus N.N., Kazarovets E. V., Durlevich O.V., Kireeva N.N., Pastukhova E.N.,
General Catalogue of Variable Stars: new version. GCVS 5.1 (the first stage of the fifth edition),
ARep, 2017,61, №1

Clement C.M. et al. 2001, Variable Stars in Galactic Globular Clusters
Astron. J., 122, 2587-2599 {2001AJ....122.2587C},
2016, http://www.astro.utoronto.ca/~cclement/read.html

Samus N. N., Kazarovets E. V., Pastukhova E. N., Tsvetkova T. M., Durlevich O. V.,
A Catalog of Accurate Equatorial Coordinates for Variable Stars in Globular Clusters,
PASP, 2009, 121, 1378S {2009PASP..121.1378S}

See also: Our publications

See also: Sternberg Astronomical Institute SN Catalogue (D.Yu. Tsvetkov, N.N. Pavlyuk, O.S. Bartunov).