A CCD Search for Variable Stars of Spectral Type B in the Northern Hemisphere Open Clusters. IX. NGC 457

We present results of a BVI variability survey in the young open cluster NGC 457 based on observations obtained during three separate runs spanning almost 20 years. In total, we found 79 variable stars, of which 66 are new. The BVI photometry was transformed to the standard system and used to derive cluster parameters by means of isochrone fitting. Using the complementary H-alpha photometry carried out in two seasons separated by over 10 years, we find that the cluster is very rich in Be stars. In total, 15 stars in the observed field of which 14 are cluster members showed H-alpha in emission either during our observations or in the past. Most of the Be stars vary in brightness on different time scales including short-period variability related most likely to g-mode pulsations. A single-epoch spectrum of NGC457-6 shows that this Be star is presently in the shell phase. The inventory of variable stars in the observed field consists of a single BCep-type star, NGC457-8, 13 Be stars, 21 slowly pulsating B stars, seven DSct stars, one GDor star, 16 unclassified periodic stars, 8 eclipsing systems and a dozen of stars with irregular variability, of which six are also B-type stars. As many as 45 variable stars are of spectral type B which is the largest number in all open clusters presented in this series of papers. The most interesting is the discovery of a large group of slowly pulsating B stars which occupy the cluster main sequence in the range between V=11 and 14.5 mag, corresponding to spectral types B3 to B8. They all have very low amplitudes and about half show pulsations with frequencies higher than 3 c/d. We argue that these are most likely fast-rotating slowly pulsating B stars, observed also in other open clusters.

Variable Stars in the Open Cluster NGC 7044

We present results of a search for variable stars in the intermediate-age open cluster NGC 7044. We found 23 variable stars in the observed field. One star turned out to be of the delta Sct type with two pulsational modes excited. From the position in the color-magnitude diagram we conclude that this star is a member of the cluster. Moreover, we found 13 eclipsing systems, of which five are W UMa stars, one is a beta Lyr variable, six are beta Per binaries showing detached configuration, and the last one is another probable beta Per system. Using the period-luminosity-color relation for W UMa stars we established the membership of the contact binaries, finding four of them to be very probable cluster members. We estimated from these four stars an apparent distance modulus (m-M)_V of NGC 7044 to be 14.2 +/- 0.4 mag, which is smaller than previous determinations of this parameter. We were able to derive orbital period for only four beta Per systems. For the remaining ones we observed only two or three eclipses. Finally, nine stars we found to show irregular light changes. Most of them are red stars not belonging to the cluster. For the cluster core we determined a reddening map, which allowed us to construct a dereddened color-magnitude diagram of NGC 7044 with a narrow main-sequence. By fitting a theoretical isochrone to this diagram we derived E(V-I_C) = 0.92 mag, (m-M)_V = 14.45 mag and log(age/yr) = 9.2.

Variable stars in NGC 457

We present preliminary results of the photometric variability search in the field of view of the young open cluster NGC 457. We find over 60 variable stars in the field, including 25 pulsating or candidate pulsating stars.

Photometric Study of Variable Stars in the Open Cluster NGC6866

We report the discovery of 19 variable stars and two blue-stragglers in the field of the open cluster NGC6866. Three of the variable stars we classify as delta Sct, two, as gamma Dor, four, as WUMa, two, as ellipsoidal variables, and one, as an eclipsing binary. Seven stars show irregular variability. Two of the pulsators, a delta Sct star NGC 6866-29 and a gamma Dor star NGC6866-21, are multiperiodic. From an analysis of proper motions, we conclude that the delta Sct stars, one of the gamma Dor stars and both blue-stragglers are very probable members of the cluster. The position on the color-magnitude diagram of seven other variables suggests that they also belong to the cluster. The eclipsing binary, which we discover to be a new high-velocity star, and the seven irregular variables are non-members. Then, we discuss in detail the age and metallicity of open clusters that host gamma Dor stars and we show that none of these parameters is correlated with the number of gamma Dor stars in cluster.