Archaeoastronomy with the Harvard College Observatory Plate Collection (Abstract)

Volume 28 number 2 (2000)

Geoffrey Clayton

Chris Dolese

Douglas Welch

Abstract

(Abstract only) We have been studying variable stars in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) discovered using the MACHO project photometry database. Since these stars were not discovered until the 1990s, it would be of great interest to know their behavior in the past. This is possible using the extensive collection of plates of the LMC contained in the Harvard College Observatory collection. Using these plates, we can make “observations” of these stars as far back as 1895. We have digitized regions of the plates and measured selected stars. Here, we present some preliminary results of this project for three stars: HV 5756, an eclipsing Cepheid; a newly discovered R Coronae Borealis star; and the progenitor of SN1987A.