β Cephei Pulsation Anomalies: Potential New Windows into the Instabilities and Evolution of Early B Stars

We have obtained Voyager Ultraviolet Spectrometer (UVS) measurements of well-known β Cephei stars, which now total more than 1500 hours (> 300 pulsation cycles!) and which constitute the most comprehensive coherent data set that can address fundamental pulsation properties of a significant cross-section of the group. The extended measurement sequences for individual stars, which cover many successive pulsation cycles at wavelengths where pulsation amplitudes reach a maximum, can provide more comprehensive tests of pulsation stability than any ground-based data. During 1990-91, we acquired more than 100 hours of ground-based high-resolution spectroscopic observations and UBV photometric observations, simultaneous and near-simultaneous with the UVS data set. Analysis has been initiated at NASA's Goddard Spaceflight Center (NASA/GSFC), the University of Hawaii at Hilo (UH Hilo), and the Dominion Astrophysical Observatory (DAO).