The M 33 Synoptic Stellar Survey. I. Cepheid Variables

We have conducted a ground-based BVI synoptic survey of the Local Group galaxy M 33 which covers most of its disk and spans a period of 7 years. The survey targets luminous, long-period variables such as Cepheids and Miras and combines images from the DIRECT project and follow-up observations at the WIYN 3.5 m telescope. This paper, the first in a series, presents the discovery and characterization of 564 Cepheid variables, which represent a factor of two increase over previous samples with calibrated point-spread function (PSF) photometry. We also describe the details of the observations and analysis of the survey data, including the use of archival Hubble Space Telescope images to characterize biases in our ground-based PSF photometry.