COMMISSION 27 OF THE I. A. U.
                 INFORMATION BULLETIN ON VARIABLE STARS
                             Number 3543

                                                       Konkoly Observatory
                                                       Budapest
                                                       21 November 1990

                                                       HU ISSN 0374 - 0676


                       THE DISCOVERIES OF V154 IN M 3


   In March 1899 E. E. Barnard discovered one of the brighter stars very near
the center of the globular cluster M3 to be variable, and eventually he
published (Barnard 1906) a chart and visual light curve with a period of 15.8
days for it. The star is listed as variable No. 154 in this cluster by
Sawyer (1939).
   This object was considered by Barnard to be new since it was not contained
in Bailey's (1902) extensive list of variables in M3, and it has generally
been termed Barnard's variable (Greenstein 1935 and Joy 1940, 1949).
   It is an interesting fact, however, that this star had already been
discovered to be variable by E. C. Pickering almost ten years before
Barnard's discovery, from four plates taken by the Harvard expedition to Mount
Wilson in the summer of 1889, though the announcement (Pickering 1889) did not
provide either a chart or light curve. The variability of this important
object, which is the first pulsating variable to be discovered in any globular
cluster, was thus a Harvard discovery, though its nature was first recognized
at Yerkes.


                                       WILLIAM P. BIDELMAN

                                       Warner and Swasey Observatory
                                       Case Western Reserve University
                                       Cleveland, OH 44106




References:

Bailey, S.I. 1902, Harvard Ann., 38, 238. [BIBCODE 1902AnHar..38....1B ]
Barnard, E.E. 1906, Astr. Nach., 172, 345. [BIBCODE 1906AN....172..345B ]
Greenstein, J.L. 1935, Harvard Bull., 901, 11. [BIBCODE 1935BHarO.901...11G ]
Joy, A.H. 1940, Ap. J., 92, 396. [BIBCODE 1940ApJ....92..396J ]
--------- 1949, Ap. J., 110,105. [BIBCODE 1949ApJ...110..105J ]
Pickering, E.C. 1889, Astr. Nach., 123, 207. Also see Harvard Ann., 38, 1, 1902. [BIBCODE 1889AN....123..207P ]
Sawyer, H.B. 1939, Publ. David Dunlap Obs., 1, 150. [BIBCODE 1939PDDO....1..125S ]