LCID project. I. Cetus and Tucana variables

These values place both galaxies in the so-called Oosterhoff Gap, as is generally the case for dSph. We found numerous RR Lyrae variables pulsating in both modes simultaneously (RRd): 17 in Cetus and 60 in Tucana. We provide the photometry and pulsation parameters for all the variables, and compare the latter with values from the literature for well studied dSph of the Local Group and Galactic globular clusters.

The parallel WFPC2 fields were also searched for variables, as they lie well within the tidal radius of Cetus, and at its limit in the case of Tucana. No variables were found in the latter, while 15 were discovered in the outer field of Cetus (11 RRab, three RRc, and one RRd), even though the lower signal-to-noise ratio of the observations did not allow us to measure their periods accurately. We provide their coordinates and approximate properties for completeness.