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Spectroscopic and Photometric Study of the Mira Stars SU Camelopardalis and RY Cephei

Boyd, D.

Miras are fascinating stars. A kappa-mechanism in their atmosphere drives pulsations which produce changes in their photometric brightness, apparent spectral type, and effective temperature. These pulsations also drive the formation of Balmer emission lines in the spectrum. This behavior can be observed and investigated with small telescopes. We r…

Discovery of Romanov V20, an Algol-Type Eclipsing Binary in the Constellation Centaurus, by Means of Data Mining

Romanov, Filipp Dmitrievich

I report my discovery of the large-amplitude Algol-type eclipsing binary system which was initially added to the AAVSO International Variable Star Index (VSX) under the designation of Romanov V20. I describe selection criteria for searching for variability among other stars, the search of photometric data from several sky surveys, and my observati…

Distances for the RR Lyrae Stars UU Ceti, UW Gruis, and W Tucanae

Parker, R.; Banks, T.; Parker, L. +2 more

B, V, i, and z bandpass observations were collected in late 2020 for three RRab type stars: UU Ceti, UW Gruis, and W Tucanae. The period-luminosity (PL) relationships of Catalen, Pritzl, and Smith (2004, ApJSupp, 154) and Caceres and Catelan (2008, ApJSuppl, 179) were applied to derive distances. These were found to be in reasonable agreement with…

Four New Variable Stars in the Field of KELT-16

Brossard, D. J.; Kaitchuck, R. H.

We present three new variable stars in the field around the star KELT-16, and new period estimates for four previously known contact binary systems in this field, ASASSN-V J205658.12+314215.9, ASASSN-V J205552.88+314615.9, ZTF J205733.78+314612.6, and ZTF J205627.42+315322.4. Due to the short periods of these three new variable stars, and the shap…

High Cadence Millimagnitude Photometric Observation of V1112 Persei (Nova Per 2020)

Thomas, N.; Ziegler, K.; Liu, P.

The private Lookout Observatory (LO) monitored the classical nova V1112 Persei on 37 nights spanning over 80 days, beginning shortly after its discovery by Seiji Ueda on 25 November 2020. Images were captured at a high cadence, with exposure lengths of initially less than 2 seconds and with some sessions lasting more than ten hours. The standard e…

Photometric Determination of the Distance to the RR Lyrae Star YZ Capricorni

Lester, J.; Joignant, R.; Meier, M.

The RR Lyrae YZ Cap was observed using photometric methods to determine its pulsation period and distance. Light curves in the Bessell B and V and SDSS i' and z' filters were used to determine the period, which was found to be 0.274 ± 0.003 day. The distances calculated using a luminosity-metallicity (V filter) and period-luminosity-metallicity re…