eclipsing variable star Related Linksastronomy

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• major reference ( in star: Spectroscopic binaries )

  ...spectrum alone is observed, only a quantity called the mass function can be derived, from which is calculated a lower limit to the stellar masses. If a spectroscopic binary is also observed to be an eclipsing system, the inclination of the orbit and often the values of the individual masses can be ascertained.

• eclipses ( in eclipse: Eclipsing binary stars )

  In an eclipsing binary system, the total amount of light varies periodically; for this reason it is alternatively called an eclipsing variable star. The light curve of an eclipsing binary—i.e., a plot of its changes in brightness over time—has a deep minimum when the brighter star is eclipsed and a shallower minimum when the dimmer star is eclipsed. The variable star Algol, or Beta...

• variable stars ( in Algol )

  prototype of a class of variable stars called eclipsing binaries, the second brightest star in the northern constellation Perseus. Its apparent visual magnitude changes over the range of (approximately) 2.2 to 3.5 with a period of 2.87 days. Even at its dimmest it remains readily visible to the unaided eye. The name probably derives from an Arabic phrase meaning “demon,” or...

  in variable star )

  In an eclipsing variable, one member of a double, or binary, star system partially blocks the light of its companion as it passes in front of the latter, as observed from Earth. Each time this happens, the brightness of the entire system fluctuates. Such an eclipsing variable is perhaps best exemplified by the binary star Algol, whose name means...