Abstract
We have searched the Calán-Tololo objective prism survey for cataclysmic variables (CVs). The properties of that survey, its limitation to galactic latitudes |b| > 20° and its faint lower magnitude cut-off at B ≈ 18.5, make it ideally suited to investigate the local population of CVs, avoiding the general observational bias towards bright, distant objects. With several follow-up observations, we have confirmed 21 systems, including 16 previously unknown systems of which 4 CVs have been independently discovered by other surveys in the meantime. Of the 14 CVs in this sample with unknown orbital period, 6 show photometric orbital modulation in the form of eclipses or humps. For the remaining 8 objects, the orbital period was derived by means of time-series spectroscopy. Of the 21 CVs, we find 15 objects below the period gap of 2-3 h, 1 system in the period gap (the known polar QS Tel), and 5 above the gap, 3 of them being magnetic CVs.
