AAVSO VSX: International Variable Star Index with Updated Positions and Types

A continuously updated database table listing Galactic stars known or suspected to be variable, maintained by the NASA HEASARC. It originated from the General Catalogue of Variable Stars and the New Catalogue of Suspected Variables, and has been supplemented with numerous other catalogues and individual discoveries. The HEASARC version is updated within a week of changes to the source CDS catalog.

Use Cases

• Classifying stellar variability types based on the catalog's type designations.
• Cross-matching and identifying duplicate stellar objects across multiple source catalogs.
• Analyzing the spatial distribution of variable stars within the Galaxy.
• Tracking updates to stellar parameters like position and period over time.

Strengths

• Continuously updated, with this version synchronized within a week of source updates.
• Originates from authoritative base catalogs (GCVS and NSV) and is supplemented by many other catalogues.
• Includes effort to update entries with latest information and remove duplicates.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• For historical reasons, includes some objects outside the Galaxy, which may affect purity for Galactic studies.

Provenance

Source

NASA HEASARC, based on the CDS catalog B/vsx.

Collection Method

Aggregated from the General Catalogue of Variable Stars, the New Catalogue of Suspected Variables, and numerous other variable star catalogues and literature discoveries.

Time Range

Historical to present, with continuous updates.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 20:00:36.574892; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Primarily Galactic, with some extragalactic objects included historically.