INTEGRAL OMC: First Catalog of 5,263 Variable Optical Sources

5,263 variable optical sources were identified from over 70,000 objects monitored by the INTEGRAL satellite's Optical Monitoring Camera between October 2002 and February 2010. The catalog, created by NASA HEASARC in 2013, provides median magnitude, magnitude at maximum/minimum brightness, and periods for 1,337 periodic sources. It includes eclipsing binaries, pulsating stars, extragalactic objects, and other variable types.

Use Cases

• Identify and classify variable stars based on light curve characteristics mentioned in the description.
• Analyze stellar periodicity using the phase dispersion minimization technique described.
• Study the optical behavior of X-ray binaries and cataclysmic variables referenced in the catalog.
• Validate or discover new periodic signals in long-term, stable photometric monitoring data.

Strengths

• Long-term monitoring over more than nine years provides stable, time-series data.
• Light curves for more than 70,000 sources, each with more than 50 photometric points.
• Periods determined for 1,337 sources from an initial high-quality sample of 6,071 objects.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Data may reflect temporal bias inherent to the specific observation window (2002-2010).

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA HEASARC)

Collection Method

Photometry from the Optical Monitoring Camera (OMC) on the INTEGRAL satellite, processed using chi-squared tests and phase dispersion minimization.

Time Range

October 2002 to February 2010

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 19:10:54.043522; freshness should be verified.

Geography

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