General Catalog of Variable Stars, 4th Ed. (GCVS4)

This new edition contains data for 28484 individual objects discovered and named by 1982 and located mainly in the Milky Way galaxy. These data are contained in the first three published volumes. The fourth volume of the fourth edition, published in 1990, contains a table of all variables ordered by right ascension and declination (B1950), a table of variables listed by variability type, and an extensive series of cross-identification tables to alternate designations (see <II/172>).

The fifth and final volume will contain data for all presently known variables in external galaxies (including the Magellanic Clouds), extragalactic supernovae, and optically variable quasistellar objects and galactic nuclei (see <II/205>). Data contained in the catalog include star identifier, equatorial position (B1950), annual precession, galactic coordinates, type of variability, maximum and minimum magnitudes, epoch of maximum, period, and spectral type.

Since extensive modifications have been made to the record structure of the machine version, users are encouraged to carefully study the brief descriptions given in the document. The list of errors published by Durlevich et al. (1994) has been incorporated in this version