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New results on the behavior of the double-mode RR Lyrae V338 Boo are presented. The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) observed this star again in 2022, and an observing campaign of the American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO) was completed after the TESS observations as a follow-up. We find that the first overtone pulsation mode in this star completely disappears during the TESS observing window. This mode reappears at the end of the TESS observations, and the AAVSO observing campaign shows that in the months that followed, the first overtone mode was not only present but was the dominant mode of pulsation. This star, and potentially others like it, could hold the key to finally solving the mystery of the Blazhko effect in RR Lyrae.

RR Lyrae stars play a central role in tracing phase-space structures within the Milky Way because they are easy to identify, are relatively luminous, and are found in large numbers in the Galactic bulge, disc, and halo. In this work, we present a new set of spectroscopic metallicity calibrations that use the equivalent widths of the Ca ii K and Balmer H γ and H δ lines to calculate metallicity values from low-resolution spectra. This builds on an earlier calibration from Layden by extending the range of equivalent widths which map between Ca ii K and the Balmer lines. We have developed the software rrlfe to apply this calibration to spectra in a consistent, reproducible, and extensible manner. This software is open-source and available to the community. The calibration can be updated with additional data sets in the future.

We present analysis of the RR Lyrae star, LS Her, and confirm the previously reported modulation to its Blazhko cycles. We performed Fourier analysis on two sectors (Sector 24 and 25) of data from the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) spanning 53 days. We find LS Her to have a primary pulsation period of 0.2308 day and a Blazhko period of 12.7 days in keeping with previously reported results. We also identified sideband frequencies around the Blazhko multiplets suggesting the Blazhko cycle is modulated on a timescale of 112 days. Analysis of the Blazhko effect using the TESS data clearly shows a changing amplitude and phase throughout the four Blazhko cycles. We compared our modeled results, which were based on our TESS frequency analysis, to TESS data (Sector 51) taken ∼700 days later and found our modulation model was not a good representation of the data. We then coupled our TESS analysis with the modulation frequency results from Wils et al. and found excellent agreement with the Sector 51 data. To further test this result we obtained ground-based,V-magnitude observations of LS Her in the summer of 2022. This data also showed excellent agreement with our coupled modulation model. We have verified that LS Her is a Blazhko star with a modulated Blazhko period of 109 days, stability over the 862 days of observations, and possible stability lasting over 15 yr. We discuss the ramifications of the modulation for other Blazhko stars that show Blazhko effect changes over time.