Confirmation of Seven Faint ATLAS Variable Star Candidates

TL;DR

This study confirms seven faint variable stars identified by ATLAS near Kepler-76b, validating the ATLAS survey's effectiveness in detecting faint variables and supporting its use in future research.

Contribution

The paper provides the first external validation of faint variable star candidates from the ATLAS survey, demonstrating the reliability of wide-field surveys for faint variable detection.

Findings

Confirmed seven faint variable stars from ATLAS list

Validated the use of new survey data for variable star research

Supported the reliability of ATLAS survey in detecting faint variables

Abstract

A pilot survey conducted at the Lookout Observatory has confirmed seven faint (V ~ 13 to 17) variables in the region of Kepler-76b that were recently discovered by the Asteroid Terrestrial-Impact Last Alert System (ATLAS). The ATLAS survey identified 315,000 probably variables within its wide-field survey in 2018. The faintness (down to r ~ 18) and small amplitudes (down to 0.02 mag) included in these candidates makes external validation difficult. Our confirmation of seven such variable stars gives credibility to the ATLAS list. Further, the agreement between various surveys and LO data validates the use of our new survey for variable star and exoplanet research.