Recent Work on RV Tauri Stars

Volume 15 number 2 (1986)

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Robert F. Wing

Astronomy Department, The

Abstract

The RV Tauri stars are pulsating variables of high luminosity whose periods are intermediate to those of the Cepheid variables and Mira stars. Since their photometric behavior tends to be rather irregular, they require continual monitoring. A list of the 25 brightest RV Tauri stars is given. A recent spectroscopic study by Wahlgren has indicated that all RV Tauri stars are metal-deficient, but by varying amounts, most appear to belong to the Old Disk population. The TiO band strength in R Scuti has been monitored by narrow-band photometry from the time of a deep minimum until the subsequent maximum, the anomalous strength of these temperature-sensitive bands indicates that the atmosphere is greatly extended.