AGB candidates in the field of gamma Cas

We report the spectroscopic and photometric monitoring of a sample of 530 candidate AGB stars in a 5 x 5 degrees field, selected from the TPHAS catalog; historic light curves were derived from Asiago IR plates taken in the years 1965-1984. We found 10 Miras, 5 stars with long term trends, 3 semiregular and 3 irregular. Spectral types from CCD slit spectra gave 8 M-type, 7 C-type and 6 S-type stars. In the color-color plots made from IPHAS and 2MASS catalogs, the S-type and M-type stars occupy the same regions, while C-type stars are well separated. All C-type stars with IR excess show long term trends in their light curve. Distances of the Mira stars, estimated from their periods and K magnitudes, give a median value 4.9 kpc with a large spread. A comparison with astrometric parallaxes from Gala DR2 is briefly discussed.