With the introduction of photometric instruments to astronomy, the variability of stars could now be monitored over intervals of time. Measurements of HD 196982 during 1969 showed them to be the most active flare stars known at that time: over a period of 16.31 hours, 54 flares were observed. The flares increased the combined magnitude of the pair by more than 0.05 for more than half of this observation period. By 1972, the pair had received the variable star designation AT Microscopii.
