Variable Stars

When not responding to Gamma-ray Burst triggers from satellites, ROTSE-I patrols the sky in search of less violent variables. Recent analysis of 6% of these sky patrols has uncovered nearly 2000 previously unknown variables of a wide variety of types. You can get more details, and view a lot of the light curves, at: http://umaxp1.physics.lsa.umich.edu/~mckay/rsv1/rsv1_home.htm

Here are two typical light curves, showing the mean-subtracted intensity of each source as a function of cycle phase: