Red variable stars in the Magellanic Clouds - II. The field of NGC 371 in the SMC

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Abstract
A field of 40 × 30 arcmin centred on NGC 371 in the Small Magellanic Cloud was photographed repeatedly over a period of five years. Blink microscope searches of the plates have provided lists of variable stars and of red stars. Periods have been found for 29 red variables: most are of small amplitude with variations which are often cyclic rather than strictly periodic. BVIK photometry of stars in a 16 arcmin diameter circle shows that the majority of the red variables have V ∼ 17.1 and very red colours indicating that they are carbon stars. The period distribution is very similar to that of semiregular variables of spectral type N in the Galaxy. A few K–M supergiant variables are found with P ∼ 500 day, though with a wide range in magnitude. Red variables with properties similar to those of the halo and metal rich globular cluster populations of the Galaxy are absent, except for one or two doubtful cases. Red variables of the type expected in the metal-rich old disk population are also not found but would be difficult to detect in the present survey which has a magnitude limit V ∼ 18.

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