Time Series Observations of IP Pegasi Using an InexpensiveAmbient Temperature CCD Camera

摘要

IP Pegasi is an eclipsing cataclysmic variable star. The systemoccasionally goes into outburst due to accretion disk instabilities. Observations atquiescence were collected with a 20-cm aperture Schmidt Cassegrain Telescope.The images were recorded with a Meade DSI-Pro CCD camera. Co-adding wasrequired to eliminate noise due to the ambient temperature CCD detector. Theobservations were unfiltered. AAVSO V-filtered and unfiltered observationswere obtained during outburst. One objective of this study was to obtain timeseries photometric data from the low cost camera. This camera successfullyprovided unfiltered light curves ofcataclysmic variable stars. A second objectivewas to analyze light curves of IP Pegasi and determine a probable structure ofthe system. The light curve during outburst displays a high luminosity midwaybetween narrow eclipses. During quiescence, the peak intensity occurs justbefore the eclipse begins, and the eclipse is not symmetrical. The light curvessupport the belief that during outburst the brightest region lies in the vicinityof the white dwarf. During the quiescent state, the brightest regions of thesystem appear to be distributed among the red dwarf, the white dwarf, and thehot spot on the perimeter of the accretion disk. This study was funded by theAmerican Astronomical Society, Small Projects Grant. It was also funded bythe North Carolina Academy of Sciences, Yarbrough Grant.