Exploring the Variable Sky with LINEAR. III. Classification of Periodic Light Curves

We describe the construction of a highly reliable sample of ∼7,000 optically faint periodic variable stars with light curves obtained by the asteroid survey LINEAR across 10,000 deg2 of northern sky. The majority of these variables have not been cataloged yet. The sample flux limit is several magnitudes fainter than for most other wide-angle surveys; the photometric errors range from ∼0.03 mag at r = 15 to ∼0.20 mag at r = 18. Light curves include on average 250 1Observatoire astronomique de l’Universite ́ de Genève, 51 chemin des Maillettes, CH-1290 Sauverny