A study of the brightness variations in the red supergiant BC Cygni

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dc.contributor.advisor Turner, David Gerald, 1945-
dc.coverage.spatial Outer space
dc.creator Rohanizadegan, Mina
dc.date.accessioned 2011-05-09T12:31:23Z
dc.date.available 2011-05-09T12:31:23Z
dc.date.issued 2006
dc.identifier.other QB836 R64 2006
dc.identifier.uri http://library2.smu.ca/xmlui/handle/01/22069
dc.description ix, 70 leaves : ill. ; 29 cm.
dc.description Includes abstract and appendix.
dc.description Includes bibliographical references (leaves 67-69).
dc.description.abstract The variability of the type C semi-regular (SRC) M3.5 Ia supergiant variable BC Cyg is examined with reference to measurements of its photographic B magnitude derived from 866 archival plates in the Harvard and Sternberg collections as well as eye estimates of its visual V magnitude made by members of the AAVSO. BC Cyg is the brightest member of the young open cluster Berkeley 87, so it has a well established reddening, distance, and age. A discrete Fourier analysis was performed on the BC Cygni light curve, as well as on individual subsets of the data. The analysis was made to study the fundamental periods of variability in this red supergiant variable. BC Cyg exhibits interesting features in its century-long baseline of brightness variations that relate to fundamental mode envelope pulsation as well as evolution: an 0 m .5 increase in <B> over the past century in conjunction with a steady decrease in pulsation period from ~697 d in 1900 to 688 d in 2000. Despite the increase in [left angle bracket] B [right angle bracket], the star's luminosity appears to have decreased over the past century, presumably as a result of stellar evolutionary effects. A detailed examination of a well sampled portion of the star's light curve, data spanning the interval HJD 2442000 to 2449000, by means of non-linear least squares analysis indicates that only one periodicity (686 days) exists in the observations. No secondary peridicity can be detected, to within the constraints of observational uncertainty.
dc.description.provenance Made available in DSpace on 2011-05-09T12:31:23Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 en
dc.language.iso en
dc.publisher Halifax, N.S. : Saint Mary's University
dc.subject.lcc QB836
dc.subject.lcsh Variable stars -- Magnitudes
dc.subject.lcsh Supergiant stars
dc.subject.lcsh M stars -- Magnitudes
dc.subject.lcsh Stars -- Open clusters
dc.subject.lcsh Variable stars -- Light curves
dc.title A study of the brightness variations in the red supergiant BC Cygni
dc.type Text
thesis.degree.name Master of Science in Astronomy
thesis.degree.level Masters
thesis.degree.discipline Astronomy and Physics
thesis.degree.grantor Saint Mary's University (Halifax, N.S.)
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