Hello everyone,
I have written some scripts to check variable stars in VSX. I cross-matched the VSX catalog on Vizier with TNS, and then I manually reviewed the filtered variable star entries. This included re-examining information on both VSX and TNS and inspecting the ZTF photometric data, among other things.
I successfully identified several misclassified entries. These are primarily supernovae that were classified as LPVs in the batch import of Chen et al.'s catalog into VSX.
They are:
ZTF J232456.59+092552.7 = SN 2018fuu (SN Ia)
ZTF J162307.83+391853.8 = SN 2018anx (SN II)
ZTF J233234.74+084509.9 = SN 2018fva (SN Ia)
ZTF J174919.09+492444.0 = SN 2018cug (SN II)
Considering that submitting individual revisions for them would take a significant amount of time, and a batch revision isn’t very cost-effective given the current number, @Sebastian_Otero, would you have time to help modify their information?
As the checking continues, I believe more erroneous variable stars (supernovae) will be discovered within VSX. Although the overall number is small, I believe improving these entries is meaningful.
Best regards,
Jiashuo Zhang
Greetings,
On the AAVSO home page scrolling banner, as of 2025 July, there is a sheet with the title “A Universe of Opportunity:…”. The AAVSO director covers the fact that many of the new survey discovered variables stars are misclassified and that there are many areas that “amateurs” can still contribute.
I’ve already come across several misclassified variables when adding new survey discovered objects to my observing program thinking they are one type but find out otherwise!
The real problem in my view is now that I have characterized the misclassified star, maybe a few dozen stars, now what do I do? What ever you do write a paper for the JAAVSO and tell the world! The next question is how or even will the new information get added to VSX?
Another problem is just using lightcurve data may not allow for classification. In this case a collaboration between the AAVSO photometrists and spectrosopists is possibly in order to resolve the classification issue.
Jim (DEY)
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Hello everyone,
I’ve finished checking all the filtered suspicious entries and have confirmed some misclassified entry data. As mentioned above, these were all incorrectly included in the supernova catalog.
They are:
ZTF J021002.21+370218.3 = SN 2018cnu (SN Ia)
ZTF J133847.26+305734.5 = SN 2018bxr (SN Ia)
ZTF J102302.40+454209.1 = SN 2018ccy (SN Ia)
ZTF J022037.67+253615.9 = SN 2018ikm (SN Ia)
ZTF J072430.54+495757.0 = SN 2018jvy (SN Ia)
ZTF J043145.64+792701.1 = SN 2018jjp (SN Ia)
ZTF J072035.49+224403.9 = SN 2018iqu (SN Ia)
Apart from these, there is also an entry without a classification:
Gaia20fim = SN 2020znj (SN Ia)
Best regards,
Jiashuo Zhang
Hi Jiashuo,
thanks for this.
I will contact you in private for details.