A Uniform Census of Variable Stars in M101 Based on HST/ACS Photometry
4 affiliations
- 1Chinese Academy of Sciences
- 2University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences
- 3Beijing Normal University
- 4China West Normal University
Abstract
We present a homogeneous Hubble Space Telescope/Advanced Camera for Surveys F555W and F814W time-series census of variable stars in two M101 disk fields, using a uniform multiband reduction and reproducible variable-selection workflow for nearby supernova host galaxies. Supplementary archival F555W epochs are used only to refine selected long-period solutions. Candidates are selected with Lomb–Scargle period searches, Fourier light-curve modeling, two-band consistency statistics, artificial-star-test photometric corrections, and mode-aware Cepheid refinement. The final catalog contains 1417 variable-star candidates, including 1102 secure fundamental-mode and 78 secure first-overtone classical Cepheids. Of these secure Cepheids, 420 are newly identified relative to the B. J. Shappee & K. Z. Stanek catalog. The catalog also contains luminous candidates outside the classical Cepheid locus. We release the catalog and source-level two-band light curves for studies of Cepheid physics, stellar variability, and distance-scale applications.
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BibTeX
@article{wang2026uniform,
title = {{A Uniform Census of Variable Stars in M101 Based on HST/ACS Photometry}},
author = {Jiyu Wang and Xiaodian Chen and Pinjian Chen and Jianxing Zhang and Shu Wang and Licai Deng},
journal = {The Astrophysical Journal},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.3847/1538-4357/aea402},
url = {https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/1538-4357/aea402},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - A Uniform Census of Variable Stars in M101 Based on HST/ACS Photometry
AU - Jiyu Wang
AU - Xiaodian Chen
AU - Pinjian Chen
AU - Jianxing Zhang
AU - Shu Wang
AU - Licai Deng
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/09
JO - The Astrophysical Journal
DO - 10.3847/1538-4357/aea402
UR - https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/1538-4357/aea402
AB - We present a homogeneous Hubble Space Telescope/Advanced Camera for Surveys F555W and F814W time-series census of variable stars in two M101 disk fields, using a uniform multiband reduction and reproducible variable-selection workflow for nearby supernova host galaxies. Supplementary archival F555W epochs are used only to refine selected long-period solutions. Candidates are selected with Lomb–Scargle period searches, Fourier light-curve modeling, two-band consistency statistics, artificial-star-test photometric corrections, and mode-aware Cepheid refinement. The final catalog contains 1417 variable-star candidates, including 1102 secure fundamental-mode and 78 secure first-overtone classical Cepheids. Of these secure Cepheids, 420 are newly identified relative to the B. J. Shappee & K. Z. Stanek catalog. The catalog also contains luminous candidates outside the classical Cepheid locus. We release the catalog and source-level two-band light curves for studies of Cepheid physics, stellar variability, and distance-scale applications.
SN - 0004-637X
SN - 1538-4357
ER -