This is a very preliminary report about a search for rapid variables in extended fields of the Large Magellanic Cloud.

V 65 is not a member of NGC 3201; there is no certainty about the membership of V 78 to NGC 5139 (ω Cen).

Recent data for red pulsating variables in globular clusters are discussed. There seems to exist a period-luminosity relation in the near-by infrared but not in the visual magnitude.

By means of smoothing spline functions an attempt is made to approximate cepheid-type light curves. As an example the light curve of XZ Cyg is used.

The optically variable quasars tend to have steep optical spectra and to show variable polarization; they tend to be associated with compact radio sources which have flat radio spectra at GHz frequencies. Objects are known which have continuous spectra (like BL Lac and OJ 287), but whose other properties closely parallel those of the variable quasars and N galaxies; in fact no sharp distinction can be drawn between them. The variation in the visibility of emission lines in quasars and N galaxies could be due to variations in the strength and spectral index of the radiation from the non-thermal source and from the differences in the amount and disposition of the material around it; it does not seem unlikely that a combination of these factors accounts for the observed range in emission line strength. The systematic difference in optical spectral index between continuous-spectrum objects (and OVV variables) on the one hand and those with emission lines on the other will produce a difference in K term between them, which may be expected to affect their relative distributions with respect to apparent magnitude.

The continuum variability (UBV observations), the variations in the emission lines, and the properties of the central source in the nuclei of Seyfert galaxies are discussed. There is the quasi-periodicity in the light variations of the nuclei. The emission lines show the variations both in the intensity and the profiles. All data lead to the conclusion, that both continuum and emission-lines intensity variations are due to the variability of the central nonthermal source.

It is shown that the emission lines of the NGC 7469 nucleus spectrum are variable. Time variability of hydrogen lines is less than 20 days. The Hα emission line is at the profile base about a factor of two narrower than the Hγ line. Estimation of the density of hydrogen envelope, where Balmer lines wings were emitted, gives the value of about 108–109 cm−3.

On the basis of a uniform series of photographic observations a 163 day period for the light variations of the N galaxy 3C 371 is found. The similarity of the form of the light curve for the different components of the light variations with the different time scales is noted. The form of the light variations was observed to be identical to that of the quasars 3C 345 and 3C 454.3.