... Star Atlas . ... Study yields new variable stars . ... The study hopes to shed light on how a wide variety of stars vary over many years by monitoring the luminosity stability of normal stars, searching for changes in the periods and amplitudes of variable stars, and waiting for any flares or outbursts. ... If these contact binaries prove to be members of the star cluster instead of foreground or background stars, Wilkerson said, they will be useful as part of a study of how the systems evolve. ...