On the period variations of several low declination high amplitude delta Scuti variables

Abstract

A 16-inch Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope on the campus of Naresuan University of Thailand and several similar-size telescopes in China equipped with CCD cameras were used to observe 14 high amplitude delta Scuti stars: GP And, CY Aqr, BS Aqr, YZ Boo, AD CMi, VZ Cnc, EH Lib, DY Her, V927 Her, KZ Hya, BE Lyn, V1162 Ori, DY Peg, and CW Ser, between the years 1999 and 2010. Data were also collected from scientific journals and sources on the Internet for these variable stars. Times of light maximum of these delta Scuti stars were then either determined from the observations or obtained from the literature to analyze the pulsation period variations. For the 14 delta Scuti stars we concluded that 7 stars (BS Aqr, CY Aqr, AD CMi, EH Lib, KZ Hya, BE Lyn and DY Peg) are binary or multiple systems. 10 delta Scuti stars are found with periods increasing with rates between 5.86×10−9 and 2.34×10−6 per year and the other 4 stars (BS Aqr, DY Her, BE Lyn and DY Peg) show periods decreasing with rates of about 10−9 to 10−8 per year.