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October 13, 2005

    MisV1306: New eccentric binary    

MISAO Project Announce Mail (October 13, 2005)

Hello. I am Seiichi Yoshida working on the MISAO project.

We discovered an unusual eclipsing variable MisV1306, a new eccentric binary. We have been discovering many new eclipsing variables in the course of the MISAO Project, but this is our first discovery of an eccentric binary.

The types and periods of our new eclipsing variables are revealed by Kazuhiro Nakajima, Mie, Japan, based on his thorough observations.

Recently, it became easy to reveal the types and periods of eclipsing variables using the huge amount of observations of automated surveys. But it is not easy still now on some stars. Nakajima observed MisV1306 on 70 nights during about 2 years, measured 1812 observations, and finally succeeded to clarify the type and period of this star. The result is very interesting.

http://www.aerith.net/misao/variable/MisV1306.html

* Discovery of a variable star MisV1306

MisV1306 is a new variable star discovered among the unfiltered CCD images taken by Nobuo Ohkura, Okayama, Japan. It was picked up by Seiichi Yoshida, MISAO Project, from the candidates of new variable stars detected automatically by the PIXY system 2. The variation was confirmed by Ken-ichi Kadota, MISAO Project.

MisV1306 locates at R.A. 02h03m28s.28, Decl. +58o54'13".8 (2000.0), around the border between Cassiopeia and Perseus, near by Double Clusters. The brightness is 12 mag, visible visually using a telescope.

It was visible on 9 night images between 1999 Sept. 27 and 2001 Nov. 21 taken by Ohkura and Kadota. The brightness has been constant except for one night, 2001 Nov. 20, when it faded by about 0.6 mag.

This light curve suggests that it is an Algol-type eclipsing variable, almost constant usually but sometimes fades out in a short time. So we announced it as the 1306-th new variable star of the MISAO Project, MisV1306, on 2005 July 3.

* Quest of the eccentricity

We asked Nakajima for time series photometry of this star as one of the candidates of eclipsing variables in 2003 when we noticed the variation for the first time. Nakajima started the observation on 2004 Jan. 21.

Fortunately, Nakajima succeeded to catch the first eclipse on the third night. But unexpectedly, it became a very hard work to reveal the character of this star after that. It took about 2 years until he found the unusual eccentric variation and determined the accurate period.

Nakajima described the hard process to reveal the character of the eccentric binary MisV1306 as follows.

I could catch the eclipse on the third night, so it seemed to easy to conclude soon. I could catch the second eclipse on the 22th night. However, the work became difficult after that.

I calculated 5 predictions of possible periods based on the two eclipses and tried to catch the next eclipse. But I failed.

An eclipsing variable continues periodic fading repeatedly. When two eclipses are caught, the possible period can be presumed assuming the number of missing eclipses between them. Then next fading can be predicted. If the star fades out as predicted, it means the presumed period is correct.

However, in the case of an eccentric binary, the intervals between eclipses do not become constant. So, the next fading does not occur as predicted, and it becomes difficult to clarify the correct period.

Therefore, I gave up my predictions and started daily observations to catch unexpected eclipses as before. I could catch an eclipse on the 49th night. But it was impossible to see the periodic character from the three eclipses. So I continued observations every day.

I could catch the secondary minimum on the 55th night. Then I finally noticed the eccentricity. I calculated the eccentric period, and succeeded to find the rough period of 5.337 days.

After that, I could observe it based on my prediction. However, the condition in this year was not good. The period of 5.337 days means I can observe the minimum every 16 days and 13 minutes, but some primary minima coincided to the full moon.

Finally, MisV1306 was revealed to be an eccentric binary with a period of 5.3364 days, and unfiltered CCD variations of 11.97 mag at maximum, 12.50 mag at primary minimum, 12.30 mag at secondary minimum. The secondary minimum occurs at the phase of 0.412. It took 70 nights until 2005 Sept. 18 to get this result.

It took 70 nights, about one and a half year. I did not imagine the eccentricity at first. I calculated many possible periods and tried to observe. I was relieved when I caught the secondary minimum.

This is the most difficult and confusing target among the new eclipsing variable stars of the MISAO Project.

* Further story of MisV1306

Recently, we can see the huge amount of observations of automated surveys for bright variable stars. The Northern Sky Variability Survey (NSVS) in the Northern Hemisphere, and the All Sky Automated Survey (ASAS) in the Southern Hemisphere are available.

MisV1306, locating in the Northern Hemisphere, is recorded by the NSVS. We can see the light curve by the NSVS at:

http://skydot.lanl.gov/nsvs/star.php?num=1776070&mask=18708

There are 147 observations during about one year by the NSVS. However, the eclipse was detected on only two nights. It shows that it is very hard to catch the eclipse of this star.

In order to clarify the change in a long time span, the change of the binary's orbit for example, further observations of MisV1306 are strongly encouraged.

The observation by Nakajima to clarify the eccentric period was published in IBVS 5700.

http://www.konkoly.hu/cgi-bin/IBVS?5700#49

Please see the following page for further information of MisV1306:

http://www.aerith.net/misao/data/misv.cgi?1306

Best regards,

P.S.
The past MISAO project announce mails are available at:

http://www.aerith.net/misao/

--
Seiichi Yoshida
comet@aerith.net
http://www.aerith.net/

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