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Old 20-10-2012, 01:39 PM
Rob_K
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Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: Bright, Vic, Australia
Posts: 2,183
Interesting, there's an AAVSO Alert Notice out for an eclipsing binary star in or over NGC 346, HD 5980.

"HD 5980 is an eclipsing binary in the Small Magellanic Cloud. The system consists of two massive, stars that both have a strong wind. The primary star is a luminous blue variable (LBV) and is unstable, having erupted in the 1990s to become the visually brightest star in the SMC. The secondary star is a nitrogen-enriched Wolf-Rayet star (WN). The orbit is slightly eccentric with a short 19.3 d period. As the stars orbit each other, their strong winds collide, bringing about changes in multiple spectral lines, small changes in the brightness of the system, and strong X-ray modulation."
http://www.aavso.org/aavso-alert-notice-472

Currently reported at mag 11.6V, primary eclipses are predicted at the following times:

JD 2456220.8 (2012 Oct 20)
JD 2456240.0 (2012 Nov 8)
JD 2456259.3 (2012 Nov 27)
JD 2456278.5 (2012 Dec 17)
JD 2456297.8 (2013 Jan 5)
JD 2456317.0 (2013 Jan 24)

Co-ordinates are RA = 00 59 26.57, Dec = -72 09 53.9 (J2000.0).

Would be cool to follow it for a while.

Edit: Just checked the ASAS-3 light curve, the eclipse isn't a spectacular one, around half a magnitude or so, but still should be detectable visually -
http://www.astrouw.edu.pl/cgi-asas/a...1.2290,500,0,0

Cheers -

Last edited by Rob_K; 20-10-2012 at 02:27 PM. Reason: Light curve link added.
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