Astronomers start their observations of this binary star system Upsilon Canum Ve
ID: 3309130 • Letter: A
Question
Astronomers start their observations of this binary star system Upsilon Canum Venaticorum ( CVn) on Day 0 and observe the stars continually until the end of Day 4.5). In that time, they record the light levels of the stars and produce the light curve seen in Datasheet #1. What is the brightness (apparent magnitude) of the binary at the time of primary eclipse (secondary star eclipsing the primary), secondary eclipse (primary star eclipsing the secondary star), and out-of-eclipse (any point when the light of both stars can be seen from Earth)?
Light Curve of Eclipsing Binaries 5.5 5, 6.0 6.5 7.0 0.0 0.51.0 1.5 2.0 2.53.0 3.54.04.5 DayExplanation / Answer
The dips in the light curve correspond to eclipses. The brightness of the primary star is larger than that of the secondary star. Therefore when the secondary star eclipses the primary star we see a large dip in the light curve. Therefore the two larger dips corresponds to primary eclipse (secondary star eclipsing the primary star) and they indicate approximate apparent magnitude of 7.2. Therefore the brightness of the binary at the time of primary eclipse is 7.2.
The smaller dip corresponds to secondary eclipse (primary star eclipsing the secondary star) and it indicates approximate apparent magnitude of 6.3. Therefore the brightness of the binary at the time of secondary eclipse is 6.3.
At out-of-eclipse point, the brightness is maximum which corresponds to the flat line in the light curve and it indicates approximate apparent magnitude of 5.4. Therefore the brightness of the binary at out-of-eclipse point is 5.4.
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