A program to search poorly studied southern globular clusters for variable stars is being carried out on the 1-m Yale telescope at CTIO. Recently two galactic bulge clusters of moderately high metallicity have been found to contain RR Lyrae variables; a cluster of similar metallicity a little farther from the galactic center apparently has none.

The 98 min eclipsing cataclysmic variable EX Hya possesses a strong 67 min modulation in its light. This has led to a discussion of EX Hya in the context of intermediate polar variables. The observed P/Ṗ of the 67 min modulation provides a useful constraint on EX Hya models. Here we report additional timing data obtained over the interval 1982 to 1985 which bears on this matter.

Both southern and northern hemisphere parallax results are reported for a number of stars including several white dwarfs, the central star of NGC7293, Barnard's star, and several other red dwarfs. The 1 meter astrometric reflector of the McCormick Observatory is described and some preliminary results are briefly discussed.

The Monash Observatory, located at Mount Burnett, Victoria, seventy kilometres east of the city of Melbourne, at a latitude of 38° S has a 0.45-m Cassegrainian and a 0.25-m Newtonian telescope. Both are equipped for photoelectric photometry, with microcomputer-based data logging systems. The 0.45-m has recently replaced the observatory's original 0.4-m Newtonian. Our site is near the coast, and has less than 20% photometric weather. Access to the telescopes and facilities of Mount Stromlo and Siding Spring Observatories (MSSSO) increases our observing time and the scope of our research. For a description of the Monash Observatory at mid-1984 see Coates et al, (1984).

Determination of the rate of mass flow in contact binary systems is one of the most important motives for their observation. Many of these binaries are in over-contact configuration with a common equipotential surface located somewhwere between the inner and outer Lagrangian zero-velocity surfaces. Most are active systems displaying frequent lightcurve and period changes resulting in residuals behaviour depictable by intersecting linear segments.

A program has been developed for the Hewlett-Packard Computer 9845 to represent in a graphical form the period of observability, for individual nights, of periodic phenomena of stars with respect to the phase. One version of the program (Fig. 1) gives the observability with respect to the phase for the whole year. The other version (Fig. 2) gives the beginning and end of the suitable observing interval for several observatories around the world thus facilitating preparation of a program for 24-hour continuous observation.

UBV observations, plus a few in R and I, were obtained during the 1984 eclipse of RZ Ophiuchi. Bolometric corrections and temperature calibration, applied to the magnitudes and colours of the stars, were used to derive the ratio of the stellar radii, and a light curve solution was obtained with this parameter fixed. Neither component fills its Roche lobe, but the system may be at a late stage of case C mass transfer.

Investigations of times of minima in eclipsing binaries give us important clues concerning a number of quite different and frequently unrelated phenomena such as the apsidal motion, mass-loss, mass-transfer or gravitational radiation. It is hard to over-estimate the importance of these relatively easy observations. However, simple statistics show that much remains to be done to assure proper data for even a moderate-size sample of eclipsing binaries. Here we present essential results of such statistics made for stars brighter than 12 magnitude in minima (this limit assumed arbitrarily as accessible to small-telescope observers).

In 1979 Partoharsodjo (see Kitamura et. al., 1985) constructed a new photoelectric photometer with an RCA IP21 photomultiplier, so that it: 1) can be coupled easily with the Bamberg 37-cm. refractor at the Bosscha Observatory, and 2) can be used both for direct current and photon counting modes. Since its installation at the telescope in the early 80's, photometric work at Bosscha Observatory was resumed.

The B-type Subdwarf BD-07°3477 has been found to be an eclipsing binary with a period of about 2h48m. A preliminary analysis of the light curve reveals the system to be fully detached. It appears to be similar in many respects to the O-Subdwarf binary AA Dor which is thought to be the remnant of a system which has undergone a common envelope phase of evolution.

Cepheids with periods around 15 days sometimes show a reversal, or dip, in their light curves near phase 0.85. The theoretical interpretation of this feature is still in doubt. We present a list of suspected dip Cepheids, accessible to small telescopes, which need additional photometry to verify the dip.

B and V photometry of II Peg obtained at Kavalur on 39 nights during 1980–81, 1981–82 and 1984–85 observing seasons is presented in Fig. 1. From an analysis of the available data on this object we find that no two light curves agree in any of the following: shape, amplitude, phases of the light maxima and minima, mean light level, or brightness at the light maxima and minima.

Photoelectric photometry of comets is a feasible and worthwhile research program for small telescopes. Nine filters designed to isolate selected emission features and continuum regions in cometary spectra have been adopted by the IAU as those recommended for comet photometry. Magnitudes of standard stars for the IAU filter system have been derived. The results have been compared with previous observations and transformations to place all observations on a common system obtained.

At the Quonochontaug Observatory of the University of Rhode Island, we specialize in the development of simple seeing limited optical telescopes. Our main instrument is a heavy Serrier trussed f/10.7, .4-m astrometric reflector which provided the last-minute astrometry in the successful prediction of the occultation of SAO 120774 by Herculina in 1978. It is similar in design to the U. S. Naval Observatory 1.5-m reflector. Its scale of 47.1“/mm makes it potentially more powerful than the Lick .5-m, f/7 astrograph. However, its field of view of 1.3° × 1.7° is insufficient to capture enough AGK3R reference stars which are needed to consistently provide tenth-of-a-second-of-arc accuracy. To solve this problem, a .24-.32-m, f/6.3 lensless Schmidt was developed to provide a 3.8° field at 135”/mm and is mounted on the .4-m telescope. It can be used by itself and/or to provide a secondary reference frame for the main instrument. The measures from the plates and film are reduced by a suite of interactive computer programs which allows one to choose the proper reduction model based on the Eichhorn criterion. Over 100 positions of stars, asteroids, comets and supernovae have been provided with these instruments, and a regular observing program including participation in the IHW is underway.

A description is given of an all-sky catalogue of bright standard stars for the uvbyβ photometric systems.

Times of minima of apsidal motion binaries have been obtained at this observatory and at Siding Spring and Cerro Tololo Observatories. This paper discusses the results for CW Cephei, DR Vulpeculae, V477 Cygni and the seldom-observed southern system YY Sagittarii.

The development of computer controlled telescopes at small observatories has dramatically increased the demand for and potential usefulness of astronomical catalogs in machine-readable form. The compilation and storage of catalogs containing program and standard stars are obvious necessities for the operation of an automatic telescope, but to date most observers have been collecting their own data and manually entering them into microcomputer disk storage. (This is clear from the small number of machine catalogs distributed by the ADC to smaller observatories.) Astronomical data centers located in several countries around the world currently archive, maintain and disseminate a wide variety of machine catalogs in virtually every discipline of astronomy, and these facilities can provide observers with nearly any kind of data needed for controlling telescopes (positional catalogs), reducing data (catalogs of all types of photometry, spectroscopy, etc.) and providing access to fundamental quantities needed for the interpretation of observations (catalogs of binaries, variables, radial and rotational velocities, etc.). The ADC presently has approximately 450 machine catalogs in its archives and these are available to observatories upon request. Procedures for obtaining data from the ADC and policies for distribution are described in this paper, while a list of all catalogs available can be obtained by contacting the ADC.

The number of artificial satellites dedicated to astrophysical research is increasing rapidly. Nearly 30 satellites currently under development or in the early planning stages will be in orbit within 10–12 years and will have more sensitive detectors and better data-processing technology as a result of current research. Many of the galactic and extragalactic objects discovered by the new technology are variable on surprisingly short time scales ranging from sub-seconds to many months. The new variable objects include but are not confined to: neutron and binary stars; quasars (and associated active centers of galaxies); newborn infrared stars and associated clouds; the coronal activity of main sequence stars; cataclysmic variables (white dwarfs in binaries); and novae, supernovae and remnants. We now realize that the short time-scale variations of many unusual stars and active galactic nuclei demand that ground and space data be taken as close in time as possible and that they be carefully planned and coordinated.

Infrared images of the BN-KL region in Orion obtained with the Univ. of Rochester IR Array Camera on the Mees 0.6-m (2.5“/pixel) and the Kitt Peak 1.3-m telescopes (1”/pixel) are presented. These images demonstrate the utility of small telescopes for infrared studies of star formation regions.

The 61-cm telescope at the Capilla Peak Observatory of the University of New Mexico was used extensively from 1979 to 1982 for UBVR observations of selected RS CVn stars. (See Elston and Zeilik, 1982, for details of the system.) Complete coverage was obtained from most of the short-period systems (Hall, 1976)-RT and CG Cyg, XY Uma (the most active of these systems), UV Psc and ER Vul-with a precision of 0.01 mag or better for each datum. Our early experiences showed that these stars had rapid intrinsic variations (within a month).