Observation by Kevin Gurney: Spectroscopic observation of radial puls...

Uploaded by

Kevin Gurney

Observer

Kevin Gurney

Observed

2023 Nov 28 - 23:05

Uploaded

2024 Mar 12 - 21:14

Objects

Spectrum
Variable star

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Constellation

Draco

Field centre

RA: 19h02m
Dec: +48°12'
Position angle: -59°42'

Field size

0°06' × 0°02'

Equipment
  • Celestron C11
  • Lhires spectrograph
  • Atik460EX
  • MESU mount
Exposure

5 min subs

Location

Sheffield

Target name

SZ yn

Title

Spectroscopic observation of radial pulsation velocity in SZ Lyn

About this image

Inspired by a BAA talk last year on short period pulsating variable
stars [1], I started a program of their observation using high
resolution spectroscopy. This aimed to measure Doppler shifts between
observations, and hence relative radial velocity of the pulsating
stellar mass. The image here shows results over a single night for SZ
Lyn. The 5 min sub exposures were stacked two at a time; further
stacking threatens to blur the Doppler shift as the period is only 2.9
hrs. Relative shifts were obtained  from cross correlation of the spectra
(using  Python with Astropy/Specutils) then combined in a method developed in
[2]. This uses all pairwise correlations to find a value which is most
self consistent across all of them. SZ Lyn is around magnitude 9
which, for high resolution spectroscopy is very faint. However, while
the individual spectra are quite noisy there is enough information for
the cross-correlation to work. The velocities have been shifted to
give zero mean.

[1] VSS Mtg 2023 Video 5 - Modelling Pulsating Stars by Phil Masding &
Robin Leadbeater. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z865ow5BuTY.

[2] Prieto, Carlos Allende. 2007. Velocities from Cross-Correlation: A
Guide for Self-Improvement. The Astronomical Journal 134 (5):
1843–48.

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