Observations of U Leporis

Abstract

U Leporis (U Lep) is a pulsating variable that demonstrates periodic variation in apparent magnitude consistent with RR Lyrae variable stars. Images were acquired by the 0.4 meter telescopes of the Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope network in the visible (B, V) and near infrared (i and z) over a two week period in October 2019 and analyzed using Astrosource. Light curves were constructed for each of the four bandpasses, yielding a mean period of 0.581±0.011 days. The middle apparent magnitudes determined for the B, V, i, and z filters were 10.75, 10.55, 10.30, and 10.35 respectively. Color excess E(B-V) was determined by two methods (1) minimizing variance in the calculated distances for the V, i, and z bands (0.065) and (2) galactic dust (0.029), with the second method preferred. Distances in parsecs to U Lep were determined for the V (968±38), i (932±33), and z (951±38) filters. The average distance of 950±21 compares favorably to that obtained by Klein (977±8 pc) and less so to Gaia DR2 (1076±36 pc).