Mean light curves of long-period variablesand discrimination between carbon- and oxygen-richstars

Abstract

Using 75 years of AAVSO data, mean light curve parameters of a sample of 355 long period M, S, and C mira and semi-regular variable stars are investigated. We present a classification of the light curves of LPVs into 6 distinct groups. Combining this classification with IRAS colors makes it possible to distinguish oxygen-rich from carbon-rich miras.