g Her B-V index

Affiliation
American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO)
Thu, 05/06/2021 - 21:32

I used my DSLR (Canon 600D) with 6 comparison stars selected with a wide V and B magnitude ranges. I took 5 minutes of stacked exposures, and the b-v index (tb-tg) I got for g Her before transformation is 1.69. All the comparison stars b-v (tb-tg) values fit the catalogue ones very closely.

However, I found the B-V catalogue index for g Her to be very different among sources:

  • 1.67-1.71 in recent PEP observations (LCG).
  • 1.52-1.53 in old surveys (VizieR).
  • 1.27-1.29 in recent surveys (VizieR).

Would you say g Her is not suitable for DSLR photometry? Why the differences among surveys and empirical data from PEP observers?

Any help is appreciated!

Arturo

Affiliation
American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO)
B-V sources

Hi Arturo,
I don't know what you mean exactly with old and recent surveys (you need to specify sources not to make general statements because each survey/catalogue is different), but GCPD has the correct values, all the time. These are standard Johnson's B and V magnitudes so much more reliable than anything else you may find.
I bet you took the Tycho derived B-V (from Bt-Vt) among the bluer B-V sources, because Tycho it is known to list such values.
In any case, as you see, your 1.69 is right in the ballpark.

Cheers,
Sebastian

Affiliation
American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO)
You are right, I'm sorry I…

You are right, I'm sorry I was too vague. I searched in the VizieR database after some general searches showing different B-V indexes. As you correctly guessed I found the values from the Hipparcos and Tycho catalogues (1997) to be 1.289 and 1.267. I cannot find the more recent ones I found the other day. My bad.

I must admit I didn't know the GCPD database, and I'm amazed! I'm using it as a reliable source of B-V indexes in the future!

Thank you Sebastian!

Arturo

Affiliation
American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO)
Variable star catalog B-V values

Hi all, I have a similar problem (finding variable star 'catalog B-V') but wasn't able to figure out how to use the GCPD database.  What is the proper link for it and is there a tutorial?  And is that still the best place?  Thanks, Bob Crumrine, CRR, Rochester, NY.