第二型造父变星(Type II Cepheid)是变星的一种,它的脉动通常介于1至50天之间[1][2]。第二型造父变星通常是第二星族星,因此是老年、通常贫金属、低质量的恒星[1]。
过去 (历史上) 常常以室女座W型变星取代第二型造父变星的名称,但现在依据周期分为几个子群,室女座W型变星只是其中的一种。周期在1-4天的属于BL Her子群、10-20天的属于W Vir子群、周期超过20天的属于RV Tau子群[1][2]。
第二型造父变星遵守著周光关系,因此是重要的标准烛光[2],但是它们比同周期的经典造父变星暗了1.6星等[3]。第二型造父变星常用来测量和建立银河中心、球状星团和星系的距离[4][5][6][7][8][9][10]。
第二型造父变星的周期越长,光度也越亮,曾经用来测量在本星系群之外的NGC 5128和NGC 4258的距离[8][11][12][13]。
Soszyński, I.; Udalski, A.; Szymański, M. K.; Kubiak, M.; Pietrzyński, G.; Wyrzykowski, Ł.; Szewczyk, O.; Ulaczyk, K.; Poleski, R. The Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment. The OGLE-III Catalog of Variable Stars. II.Type II Cepheids and Anomalous Cepheids in the Large Magellanic Cloud. Acta Astronomica. 2008, 58: 293. Bibcode:2008AcA....58..293S.
Matsunaga, Noriyuki; Fukushi, Hinako; Nakada, Yoshikazu; Tanabé, Toshihiko; Feast, Michael W.; Menzies, John W.; Ita, Yoshifusa; Nishiyama, Shogo; Baba, Daisuke. The period-luminosity relation for type II Cepheids in globular clusters. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 2006, 370 (4): 1979. Bibcode:2006MNRAS.370.1979M. arXiv:astro-ph/0606609 . doi:10.1111/j.1365-2966.2006.10620.x.
Feast, Michael W.; Laney, Clifton D.; Kinman, Thomas D.; van Leeuwen, Floor; Whitelock, Patricia A. The luminosities and distance scales of type II Cepheid and RR Lyrae variables. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 2008, 386 (4): 2115. Bibcode:2008MNRAS.386.2115F. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2966.2008.13181.x.
Majaess, D.; Turner, D.; Lane, D. Type II Cepheids as Extragalactic Distance Candles. Acta Astronomica. 2009, 59: 403. Bibcode:2009AcA....59..403M.
Majaess, D. J. RR Lyrae and Type II Cepheid Variables Adhere to a Common Distance Relation. The Journal of the American Association of Variable Star Observers. 2010, 38: 100. Bibcode:2010JAVSO..38..100M.
Majaess, D. The Cepheids of Centaurus A (NGC 5128) and Implications for H0. Acta Astronomica. 2010, 60: 121. Bibcode:2010AcA....60..121M.