The Carina Project: I. Bright Variable Stars

We present new BV time series data of the Carina dwarf spheroidal galaxy. Current data cover an area of about 0.3 square degrees around the center of the galaxy and allowed us to identify 92 variables. Among them 75 are RR Lyrae stars, 15 are "bona fide" Anomalous Cepheids, one might be a Galactic field RR Lyrae, and one is located along the Carina Red Giant Branch. Expanding upon the seminal photographic investigation by Saha, Monet & Seitzer (1986) we supply for the first time accurate estimates of their pulsation parameters (periods, amplitudes, mean magnitude and colors) on the basis of CCD photometry. Approximately 50% of both RR Lyrae and Anomalous Cepheids are new identifications. Among the RR Lyrae sample 6 objects are new candidate double-mode variables. On the basis of their pulsation properties we estimated that two variables (V152, V182) are about 50% more massive than typical RR Lyrae stars, while the bulk of the Anomalous Cepheids are roughly a factor of two more massive than fundamental mode RR Lyrae stars. This finding supports the evidence that these objects are intermediate-mass stars during central He burning phases. The data for Carina, together with data available in the literature, strongly support the conclusion that dSph galaxies can barely be classified into the classical Oosterhoff dichotomy. The mean period of fundamental mode RR Lyrae in Carina resembles that found for Oosterhoff type II clusters, whereas the ratio between first overtones and total number of RR Lyrae is quite similar to that found in Oosterhoff type I clusters.