23rd Annual Student Research Conference
Evaluating Claims of Delta Scuti Components in Two Eclipsing Binary Systems
Miguel A. Fernandez* and Chad O. Williamson
Dr. Matthew M. Beaky, Faculty Mentor
An eclipsing binary system is a pair of stars orbiting a common center of mass whose perceived brightness varies over time due to periodic eclipses of one star by the other. Sometimes, one of the stars is itself a variable star, whose changes in brightness are caused by radial pulsations. In this case, the light curve exhibits additional variations superimposed on those due to the eclipses. A Delta Scuti variable is a pulsating variable star that is of particular interest to asteroseismologists. Chaubey (1993) identified additional variability in the binary system MM Cassiopeiae, leading him to conclude that one of the stellar components was a Delta Scuti star. Dvorak (2009) claims that the binary system V417 Aurigae does not contain a Delta Scuti star. Photometric light curves for MM Cas and V417 Aur collected at the Truman Observatory will be presented that appear to refute both of these assertions.
Keywords: astronomy, variable star, light curve, delta scuti, photometry, eclipsing binary
Topic(s):Physics
Astronomy
Presentation Type: Oral Paper
Session: 33-2
Location: MG 1096
Time: 1:30