[AZ-Observing] SZ Herculis CCD Photometry

The July 2007 issue of Sky & Telescope has a two page article on SZ 
Herculis. If you are at all interested, I recommend reading the 
article. This is a short period (19.63 hours or 0.8181 days) 
eclipsing (10 V to 12 V magnitude) binary star system that will be in 
a favorable position to observe over the next several months.

While there have been many visual observations, there is a lack of 
many photometric observations, particularly filtered observations. 
Timing can be done visually or with a non-filter photometer (CCD 
monochrome camera), but for more details on the system, BVRI 
photometry is desirable.

With the large price reduction of the Meade DSI Pro ($129) for anyone 
interested in getting their feet wet with CCD photometry now is an 
excellent chance for a minimal amount of money. SZ Herculis would  be 
an excellent project for someone with a  DSI Pro (or most any other 
CCD camera). This could be doe with an 8" scope from the Phoenix area 
(backyard project).

The reason I am sending the note is to see if there are any persons 
out there interested in doing some CCD (filtered or unfiltered) 
photometry of SZ Herculis. Stan Gorodenski has indicated an interest 
and may try BVRI CCD and/or UBV single channel photometry of it. I 
plan to start BVRI CCD photometry of the system as soon as the 
weather cooperates.

While there is no guarantee the data collected would be worthy of a 
professional paper, one never knows what may pop out and attract the 
interest of the professionals. For sure anyone taking on the project 
would learn much about CCD photometry and I think that in itself 
would be very satisfying.

Once mastered, this project could lead to others. CCD photometry is 
really not difficult, but does require some work and there are 
pitfalls. Anyone wishing to tackle this who would like help getting 
started and someone to act as a mentor I would be happy to help. The 
first order would be to get images of the star system and that 
requires finding the star and making sure it is the right star. Not 
as easy as one might think. When you are sure you have the right 
star, determining a good exposure times, subtracting dark fields and 
calibrating with flat fields will produce useable data. Filter data 
just increases the number of images needed (also needed is 
determination of exposure times in each filter). Then the fun starts. 
You can use the AutoStar Image Processing software (or something like 
AIP4WIN) to get the magnitudes of the star as it varies. Or if you 
want to use filtered data, produce raw counts for further reductions 
and transformation.

I have started putting together a folder with data on the system. 
Anyone who has comments or question or interested in joining please 
drop me an e-mail directly. This could be a fun and educational 
project.

Jeff


-- 
Jeff Hopkins
HPO SOFT
Counting Photons
http://www.hposoft.com/Astro/astro.html
Hopkins Phoenix Observatory
7812 West Clayton Drive
Phoenix, Arizona 85033-2439 U.S.A.
(623)849-5889
(623) 247-1190 (Fax)
www.hposoft.com
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