Desig
C
Name of star
Name of star; small letter thrice as uppercase; last character may be number/letter of a component
Con
Constellation
An awfull all-uppercase notation of the GCVS has been preserved.
Alpha
Right.Asc./1millidegree; J2000.0
But epoch remains 1950: no proper motions were regarded, just precession.
Delta
Declination/0.001degree; J2000
New equinox (2000 instead of 1950) without regarding proper motions computed just for convenience. For the same purpose, decimal numbers are used instead of Babylonian ones (babylonian number is based on powers of 60).
Var_type
Type of variability
Max
cmag in maximum brightness
I.e., minimal faintness divided by one centimagnitude
Min
in minimum / amplitude
Maximal faintness (in minimum brightnes) or, when the value is less then Max, "amplitude" = increase of faintness the most bright state (given by Max) / 1 cmag.
D
Decimals of period (F means 10)
Period
Period*10^D / 1 d
Period /1 d is obtained by dividing this number by 10 power D; leading 0 is always at the place of whole days.
Base_Mom
JD*1E6: Max (Min for ecl.bin.)
Canonical moment of the maximum brightness --- for physical variables, varying their light output, or of the mininum brightness --- for binary stars, changing just luminosity into the given (our) direction. For Novae, see column T.
T
Comments to the Base_mom column
':' for uncertain JD, '-' maximum may have been earlier, '+' later. For novae, right 4 digits are year of outburst. 'Y' indicates two decimal places of JD, 'X'=':' ('W' unc. year, too), 'L'='+', 'G'='-'. 'Q' no decimals, 'R'=':'. 'Z' no JD, 'V' unc. year