The Impact of Long-Term Monitoring on Variable Star Research : Astrophysics, Instrumentation, Data Handling, Archiving

Long-term monitoring is of fundamental significance in solving many important problems in astrophysics and, furthermore, has unequalled value in extending observational runs with small telescopes for the education of young astronomers in order to teach them how to secure high-quality observational data over many years. __The Impact of____Long-Term Monitoring on Variable Star Research__ contains reports based on the analysis of data collected in the visible, IR and radio measurement ranges, as well as the design and history of well known photometric systems. Though the reporting of novel results forms an important part of the book, there are also reports of eight discussion sessions covering more general areas, such as extinction monitoring, the problems of archival storage of astronomical data, service observation, the role played by long-term monitoring in graduate teaching and thesis supervision, the interplay between the great observational effort and theory, the contribution of LTM to new knowledge of fundamental data, and the increasing decommissioning of telescopes of modest aperture. Front Matter....Pages i-xvi Long-Term Photometry Of Variables: The Story Of Hd 160529....Pages 1-18 New Astrophysical Insights Based On Historical and Modern Data of Eta Carinae 1935-1992....Pages 19-30 Evidence For Circumstellar Disks Around Variable Herbig Ae/Be Stars From Long-Term Photometry....Pages 31-40 Ten Years of Monitoring Southern Be Stars: Results From the Eso Ltpv Project....Pages 41-54 Long-Term Monitoring of the Complex Variations of be Stars....Pages 55-72 Discussion No 1: Be Stars....Pages 73-74 Long-Term Radio Monitoring of Wolf-Rayet Stars With Non-Thermal Emission....Pages 75-84 Long-Term Infrared Photometry of Wc Stars Making Circumstellar Dust....Pages 85-100 Photometric Monitoring of Wolf-Rayet Stars Strömgren uvby and narrow-band photometry....Pages 101-116 Variability of Wolf-Rayet Stars: Constraints on The Properties of Hot-Star Winds....Pages 117-140 Discussion No 2: WR Stars....Pages 141-142 Long-Term Variability of Barium and S Stars....Pages 143-162 A Long-Term Photometric Campaign Approach to the Study of Symbiotic Variables....Pages 163-176 Long-Term Light and Period Variations of Some Contact Binaries....Pages 177-184 Long-Term Monitoring Of Cyclic Frequency Variability in Rapidly Oscillating ap Stars at the Sutherland Station of The South African Astronomical Observatory....Pages 185-196 Long-Term Photometry of ap Stars....Pages 197-208 Discussion No 3: Binaries and ap Stars....Pages 209-212 Problems and Perspectives of Long-Term Observations of Population I and II Cepheids, RR Lyrae-Type and Other Luminous Pulsating Stars....Pages 213-228 The Story Of Ai Velorum: A Review....Pages 229-246 Long-Term Monitoring of the Extreme Galactic Cepheids V810 Centauri and V473 Lyrae....Pages 247-254 Hot Pulsating Stars in the Geneva System....Pages 255-266 Discussion No 4: Pulsating Stars....Pages 267-268 Instrumental Effects In Stellar Spectroscopy....Pages 269-290 Investigation of Luminous Blue Variables of the Magellanic Clouds During the Past Decade with LTPV, Caspec and IUE....Pages 291-302 Fiber-Linked Echelle Spectrographs: The Ideal Tool For High-Resolution Spectroscopic Long-Term Monitoring....Pages 303-310 Spectroscopic Monitoring of OBA Stars....Pages 311-328 Multichannel Multicolour Photometry: Experiences From A Long-Term Monitoring Campaign....Pages 329-344 Discussion No 5: Spectroscopy....Pages 345-346 Long-Term Optical Monitoring of Gamma-Ray Burst Sources....Pages 347-352 Archives of Variable-Star Observations - History, Use and Prospects....Pages 353-364 Computerised Very-Long-Term Monitoring of Variables and the Sonneberg Plate Archive....Pages 365-374 Discussion No 6: Photographic Photometry....Pages 375-378 Lessons Learned From 30 Years of Long-Term Variable-Star Photometry....Pages 379-392 Long-Term Aspects of Multi-Site Campaigns....Pages 393-404 Geneva Photometry and its Homogeneity....Pages 405-420 Photometric Monitoring: Accuracy, Homogeneity and Precision in Existing Long-Term Projects....Pages 421-436 StröMgren Photometry, Galactic Research, and Variable Stars....Pages 437-444 Back Matter....Pages 445-457 Long-term monitoring is of fundamental significance in solving many important problems in astrophysics and, furthermore, has unequalled value in extending observational runs with small telescopes for the education of young astronomers in order to teach them how to secure high-quality observational data over many years. The Impact of Long-Term Monitoring on Variable Star Research contains reports based on the analysis of data collected in the visible, IR and radio measurement ranges, as well as the design and history of well known photometric systems. Though the reporting of novel results forms an important part of the book, there are also reports of eight discussion sessions covering more general areas, such as extinction monitoring, the problems of archival storage of astronomical data, service observation, the role played by long-term monitoring in graduate teaching and thesis supervision, the interplay between the great observational effort and theory, the contribution of LTM to new knowledge of fundamental data, and the increasing decommissioning of telescopes of modest aperture. Proceedings of the NATO Advanced Research Workshop, Ghent, Belgium, November 15--18, 1993