Catalogue of BRITE-Constellation targets

I. Fields 1 to 14 (November 2013–April 2016)^★

¹ Universität Innsbruck, Institut für Astro- und Teilchenphysik, Technikerstraße 25, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria
e-mail: konstanze.zwintz@uibk.ac.at
² Instytut Astronomiczny, Uniwersytet Wrocławski, Kopernika 11, 51-622 Wrocław, Poland
³ Institut für Physik, Karl-Franzens Universität Graz, Universitätsplatz 5/II, NAWI Graz, 8010 Graz, Austria
⁴ Department of Physics and Space Science, Royal Military College of Canada, PO Box 17000, Kingston, ON K7K 7B4, Canada
⁵ Mount Allison University, 69 York St, Sackville, NB, Canada
⁶ Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias, 38200 La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain
⁷ Departamento de Astrofísica, Universidad de La Laguna, 38206 La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain
⁸ School of Mathematics, Statistics and Physics, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 7RU, UK
⁹ Institute of Astronomy, KU Leuven, Celestijnenlaan 200D, Leuven 3001, Belgium
¹⁰ Nicolaus Copernicus Astronomical Center of the Polish Academy of Sciences, Bartycka 18, 00-716 Warsaw, Poland
¹¹ American Association of Variable Star Observers, 185 Alewife Brook Pkwy Suite. 410, Cambridge, MA 01238, USA
¹² Silesian University of Technology, Department of Electronics, Electrical Engineering and Microelectronics, Akademicka 16, 44–100 Gliwice, Poland
¹³ Astronomical Observatory, University of Warsaw, Al. Ujazdowskie 4, 00-478 Warszawa, Poland
¹⁴ European Organisation for Astronomical Research in the Southern Hemisphere (ESO), Karl-Schwarzschild-Str. 2, 85748 Garching bei München, Germany
¹⁵ Technische Universität Graz, Inffeldgasse 12, 8010 Graz, Austria
¹⁶ Département de physique, Université de Montréal, Campus MIL, 1375 Thérése-Lavoie-Roux, Montréal (Qc), Canada
¹⁷ LESIA, Paris Observatory, PSL University, CNRS, Sorbonne University, Paris-Cité University, 5 place Jules Janssen, 92195 Meudon, France
¹⁸ Space Research Center, Polish Academy of Sciences, Bartycka 18A, 00-716 Warsaw, Poland
¹⁹ University of Vienna, Department for Astrophysics, Türkenschanzstrasse 17, 1180 Vienna, Austria
²⁰ Łukasiewicz Research Network – Institute of Aviation, Al. Krakowska 110/114, 02-256 Warsaw, Poland

Received: 11 October 2023
Accepted: 29 November 2023

Abstract

Context. The BRIght Target Explorer (BRITE) mission collects photometric time series in two passbands with the aim of investigating stellar structure and evolution. Since their launches in the years 2013 and 2014, the constellation of five BRITE nano-satellites has observed a total of more than 700 individual bright stars in 64 fields. Some targets have been observed multiple times. Thus, the total time base of the datasets acquired for those stars can be as long as nine years.

Aims. Our aim is to provide a complete description of ready-to-use BRITE data, to show the scientific potential of the BRITE-Constellation data by identifying the most interesting targets, and to demonstrate how scientists can use these data in their research, and encourage them to do so.

Methods. We applied a decorrelation process to the automatically reduced BRITE-Constellation data to correct for instrumental effects. We performed a statistical analysis of the light curves obtained for the 300 stars observed in the first 14 fields during the first ~2.5 yr of the mission. We also performed cross-identification with the International Variable Star Index.

Results. We present the data obtained by the BRITE-Constellation mission in the first 14 fields it observed, from November 2013 to April 2016. We also describe the properties of the data for these fields and the 300 stars observed in them. Using these data, we detect variability in 64% of the presented sample of stars. Sixty-four stars, or 21.3% of the sample, have not yet been identified as variable in the literature and their data have not been analysed in detail. They can therefore provide valuable scientific material for further research. All data are made publicly available through the BRITE Public Data Archive and the Canadian Astronomy Data Centre.