Predictions on the number of variable stars for the GAIA space mission and for surveys as the ground-based International Liquid Mirror Telescope

Abstract

Future space and ground-based survey programmes will produce an impressive amount of photometric data. The GAIA space mission will map the complete sky down to mag V=20 and produce time series for about 1 billion stars. Survey instruments as the International Liquid Mirror Telescope will observe slices of the sky down to magnitude V=23. In both experiments, the opportunity exists to discover a huge amount of variable stars. A prediction of the expected total number of variable stars and the number of variables in specific subgroups is given.