Abstract

We report BT/(RI)(C) data for a select group of 14 Cepheids in the Large Magellanic Cloud and eight in the Small Magellanic Cloud that have preexisting radial velocity curves. The photometry was obtained as part of a program to determine distances to these Cepheids by means of the visual surface brightness technique and to improve significantly the optical BV(RI)(C) light curves of Magellanic Cloud Cepheids. The data were acquired on the 0.9 m telescope at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory with the CFCCD instrument and with the 1 m photometric telescope at ESO using aperture photometry. The median number of measures per Cepheid is 46 in each band, and the uncertainty in the photometry is typically +/-0.01 mag. Using these data together with data from the literature, we determined improved periods for all variables. For most of the Cepheids, these revised periods lead to excellent, low-noise light curves, but for a few variables, the periods are obviously variable.