Uploaded September 2021 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Originally broadcast Sept. 4, 2021. Gary Billings is an AAVSO observer, who has been a serious amateur astronomer since the late 90s. Beginning in asteroid astrometry, he migrated to variable star photometry.
Many variable stars exhibit their variability in repeating, or approximately repeating, cycles of brightness variation—they are periodic. This talk presents the basics of looking at regular periodic phenomena, and is intended to set the stage for the subsequent How-to Hour on October 2nd about O-C diagrams, where we will look at some of the ways that a star's behavior might vary from a constant period. These discussions focus on simple calculations involving a star's period and period changes, not the astrophysical causes of the period changes. While the principles apply to other types of stars, eclipsing binary stars will be used as examples.
The follow-up How-to Hour on Eclipsing Binaries and O-C Diagrams is at studio.youtube.com/video/1JOSZ6Nfbu8/edit
Check out AAVSO and how you can make a valuable contribution to science by visiting us at aavso.org (the Eclipsing Binaries Observing Section is at aavso.org/aavso-eclipsing-binaries-section)
Originally broadcast Sept. 4, 2021. Gary Billings is an AAVSO observer, who has been a serious amateur astronomer since the late 90s. Beginning in asteroid astrometry, he migrated to variable star photometry.
Many variable stars exhibit their variability in repeating, or approximately repeating, cycles of brightness variation—they are periodic. This talk presents the basics of looking at regular periodic phenomena, and is intended to set the stage for the subsequent How-to Hour on October 2nd about O-C diagrams, where we will look at some of the ways that a star's behavior might vary from a constant period. These discussions focus on simple calculations involving a star's period and period changes, not the astrophysical causes of the period changes. While the principles apply to other types of stars, eclipsing binary stars will be used as examples.
The follow-up How-to Hour on Eclipsing Binaries and O-C Diagrams is at studio.youtube.com/video/1JOSZ6Nfbu8/edit
Check out AAVSO and how you can make a valuable contribution to science by visiting us at aavso.org (the Eclipsing Binaries Observing Section is at aavso.org/aavso-eclipsing-binaries-section)
