Abstract:
I
present
modeling
of
two
eclipsing
binary
star
systems.
We
define
a
binary
star
system
as
a
system
whose
individual
stellar
components
are
gravitationally
bound
together.
My
purpose
is
to
model
these
systems
using
the
software
suite
entitled
Physics
of
Eclipsing
Binaries
(PHOEBE),
which
uses
the
Wilson-‐Devinney
code.
All
of
the
systems
I
am
looking
at
are
part
of
the
Northern
Sky
Variability
Survey
(NSVS).
The
NSVS
catalog
is
a
large-‐area
survey
generated
using
observations
from
April
1999
to
March
2000
covering
the
sky
northward
of
δ>-‐38°
declination.
The
data
used
to
generate
the
NSVS
was
taken
using
the
first
generation
Robotic
Optical
Transient
Search
Experiment
(ROTSE-‐I).
The
imaging
system
for
ROTSE-‐I
has
a
wide,
unfiltered
spectral
response
that
covers
the
wavelengths
from
B
to
I
of
the
Johnson-‐Cousins
system.
The
intent
of
the
NSVS
was
to
search
for
variable
star
systems
over
a
wide
area
of
the
sky
and
it
succeeded
in
discovering
many
such
systems.
I
purposefully
targeted
systems
that
have
not
been
extensively
studied
and
have
short
orbital
periods
(~12
hours).
Due
to
the
large
area
of
the
sky
covered
by
the
NSVS,
time
resolutions
for
these
systems
are
poor,
(~24
hours).
For
systems
whose
orbital
periods
vary
on
the
order
of
hours
rather than
days,
finer
time
resolutions
are
necessary
to
complete
an
extensive
photometric
study.
I
targeted
and
examined
two
of
these
systems
with
much
finer
time
resolutions,
(~a
few
minutes)
in
order
to
accurately
determine
their
stellar
orbital
parameters.
I
present
observations
taken
in
the
three
band-‐pass
filters
Johnson
B
and
V
and
Cousins
R.
The
observations
of
these
binary
star
systems
were
carried
out
using
both
the
0.4
m
and
0.6
m
telescopes
at
the
Ball
State
University
Observatory
located
on
the
rooftop
of
the
Cooper
Science
building
as
well
as
the
Southeastern
Astronomical
Research
Association’s
(SARA)
0.9
m
telescope
located
at
the
Kitt
Peak
National
Observatory
in
Arizona.
All
light
curves
generated
from
this
data
were
modeled
using
the
PHOEBE
software
suite.
This
analysis
allowed
me
to
determine
several
of
the
orbital
parameters
of
each
system,
which
can
be
used
as
a
baseline
in
future
studies.