Eclipsing Binary Simiulation

Cette page est copiée du cours de Thierry Herter de l'université Cornell

ECLIPSING BINARIES

Astronomy 101/103__________________________ Terry Herter

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DESCRIPTION:

Orbiting stars which are separated by a small distance may pass in front of one another. It is not possible for astronomers to see the individual stars, but there will be a change in the total light coming from the two stars when they "eclipse" one another. This simulation shows how this eclipse happens.

We have the following definitions:

Inclination angle	Angle of the orbital plane of the stars to our line-of-sight. 0^o - edge on 90^o - face on
Separation	The distance between the two stars in solar radii.
Star 1 or Star 2	The spectral type of the stars.

INSTRUCTIONS:

Adjust the inclination angle, separation, and star types.
Click "enter values" to update the simulation parameters.
Use "pause" to start and stop the simulation, if desired.
If the picture is messed up at anytime, use "clear graph" to redraw it.

EXAMPLE TO TRY:

Change separation to 6.
Change star 2 to "F".
"Enter values".

Please note then:

The flat bottom light curve because star 2 is completely inside (or behind) star.
Note that when the F-star is in front of the A-star light from the system is reduced more than when the F-star is behind the A-star.

This is because the F-star is cooler than the A-star.