Gamma Doradus variable

The stars are typically young, early F or late A type main sequence stars, and typical brightness fluctuations are 0.1 magnitudes with periods on the order of one day.

This class of variable stars is relatively new, having been first characterized in the second half of the 1990s, and details on the underlying physical cause of the variations remains under investigation.

However, none of the currently-accepted explanations were adequate: it pulsated too slowly and was outside of the Delta Scuti instability strip, and there was no evidence for any eclipsing material, although Gamma Doradus and HD 96008 were noted to be similar.

[4] Eclipses and starspots were soon ruled out as the cause of the Gamma Doradus' variability,[5] and the variability of 9 Aurigae was confirmed to be caused by g-mode pulsations a year later, thus confirming the stars as the prototypes of a new class of variable stars.

[6] Over ten more candidates were quickly found,[7] and the discoverers dubbed the group the Gamma Doradus stars, after the brightest member and the first member found to be variable.