Combining the 2MASS Catalog and the AAVSO International Database: Results for CV-Type Stars (Abstract)

Volume 30 number 2 (2002)

George Hawkins

Abstract

(Abstract only) There have been few studies of the near-infrared properties of Cataclysmic Variables (CVs), and most do not include simultaneous visual observations. Thus it seems natural to combine results from the Two-Micron All-Sky Survey (2MASS) with the AAVSO International Database for the ~300 CVs and Nova-like variables in the AAVSO program. The 2MASS survey is now half finished, and a large catalogue has recently been released on the web covering half the sky (R. Cutri et al., 2002, 2MASS Second Incremental Release Explanatory Supplement, http:// www.ipac.caltech.edu/2mass/releases/second/doc/explsup.html). AAVSO visual estimates provide data on whether the CV was in outburst or quiescence at the time of the 2MASS observations. I show that CVs in outburst occupy a distinct part of the optical-near-infrared color-color diagram. By combining this study with the previous near-infrared results of Berriman, Szkody, and Capps (1985, Month. Not. Royal Astron. Soc., 217, 327), I also show the tracks in the color-color diagram of a few CVs as they go from quiescence to outburst.