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Astronomers take two forms of data from telescopes: photometry and spectroscopy. Photometry is the measurement of brightness or intensity of light from an object. To make such measurements astronomers obtain a series of images of their object and count the number of photons detected during their exposure. This is translated into a magnitude which can be converted to flux or intensity. Once they have obtained their photometric measurements astronomers plot their results against time or orbital phase, the result of which is called a light curve.
In this exercise we are going to produce a light curve from a simple binary system using Binary Maker and ascertain which binary parameters cause the biggest changes in the light curve. By now you should have installed and started Binary Maker. In doing so you will now have a starting screen with a series of menu options on the top bar. Go to File Menu and choose Read Data File. Enter 1 then the file uzdrav.bmd. Enter 3 then the file uzdra.rv. Go to Run menu then choose Light Curves. Enter 1. Binary Maker first brings up a picture of the binary. Press Enter to continue. Type Enter for the inclination, starting phase and phase increment. Binary Maker should now be showing an animation of the binary stars moving around their orbits together with the theoretical light curve and radial velocity curve. When it has finished note down the level of intensity at which the bottom of the minima reach. |