9315280 Shafter Although it has been understood for some time that cataclysmic variable stars are the result of mass transfer in binary systems, their basic parameters are still poorly known. Consequently it has not been possible to determine how the various types of cataclysmic variables are related. This will be addressed by obtaining new photometric observations to refine the orbital period distribution and by obtaining spectra to measure the masses of the component stars in the systems.
