epsilon Aurigae
epsilon Aurigae
Literature Review: Mid-Eclipse Brightening?
As part of my Ph.D. dissertation, I have been conducting a comprehensive review of literature on Epsilon Aurigae. Each month I will select one paper to review or discuss, adding relevant information from more recent literature when necessary.
This literature review is a little different from my prior postings. This time around I'm not reviewing a single article, but instead a hotly debated topic about epsilon Aurigae and providing you with some background information from various sources. During the 1983 eclipse a significant increase in brightening of about 0.2 mag was recorded when the center of the disk was passing in front of the F-star (click to open a large image showing all photometric data since the 1983-eclipse, it's a large image, published on my 2010 AAS poster. Data provided by Jeffrey Hopkins and campaign contributors)Read more
Team Up with a 17,000mph Observatory
Astronauts on board the International Space Station (ISS) have joined the Citizen Sky project!
Through the northern hemisphere summer of 2010, astronauts on board the ISS will attempt to observe epsilon Aurigae while it is close to the Sun. As many of you know, epsilon Aurigae is currently lost in the glare of the Sun for Earth-bound observers. However, from space they can still see it because the atmosphere is not in the way. Although they have to be careful, the Sun appears much brighter in space also.
This web page will be used too keep track on their progress and show you the data as it comes in.
Updates
Developments
Some description here.
Nature Result Discussion
Dr. Bob and Brian are taking turns discussing the implications of the April 8 Nature paper on Epislon Aurigae from which the following image is taken:
In the following posts we're attempting to answer the bigger question: what does it mean? If you have any particular questions you would like to ask, feel free to post something in the forums or send us an email (Dr. Bob, Brian).Read more
Why Review Literature?
One thing that is really clear about epsilon Aurigae is that the amount of literature is staggering. As of writing this, there are over 400 articles listed in ADS!
When I first started studying eps Aur as part of my Ph.D. dissertation, I was very far behind Dr. Stencel in terms of knowledge. Although the reviews did a good job describing the larger details, I found out that they often left out the subtle details that might become important later on in my research.
I soon realized that having a grand summary of several important articles on eps Aur might be useful for the Citizen Sky community. Therefore, I've been writing posts about the literature and history of eps Aur and each month I select one paper to review or discuss, adding relevant information from more recent literature when necessary.
The following pages are links to the literature reviews I've posted in the forums.Read more
The "Star" of Our Project
The “Star” Of Our Project is epsilon Aurigae, a mysterious, bright, eclipsing binary variable star. Below is a list of questions (and answers!) that you may have about this star starting with the basics and progressing to a little more advanced concepts.
ep’ si lon Au ry’ gee
