Report From the epsilon Aurigae Campaign in Greece

Volume 40 number 2 (2012)

Grigoris Maravelias: Physics Department, University of Crete, GR-71003, Heraklion, Crete, Greece; address email correspondence to G. Maravelias at gmaravel@physics.uoc.gr
Emmanuel Kardasis: Department of Electronics Engineering, T.E.I. of Pireaus, GR-12244, Egaleo, Greece
Iakovos-Marios Strikis: Pindarou 15, GR-12461, Chaidari, Greece
Byron Georgalas: Ameipsiou 12, GR-11143, Athens, Greece
Maria Koutoulaki: Physics Department, University of Crete, GR-71003, Heraklion, Crete, Greece

Abstract

We report the results of the Greek campaign to observe the 2009–2011 eclipse of e Aurigae. We present the activities organized by the Hellenic Amateur Astronomy Association (HAAA) in order to publicize the event and to provide the necessary information and tools to both first-time and experienced observers. Although visual observations were the core method, we proposed and experimented with various techniques. In total, data from 21 observers were acquired combining different techniques: 302 visual, 95 CCD, and 11 DSLR observations, and 5 low-resolution spectra. We were able to construct the light curve of the eclipse and extract some interesting results, in agreement with previous studies. The system’s V-magnitude drops from ~3.0 to ~ 3.8 in 131 ± 21 days. The ingress date is estimated around the MJD 55087 ± 15d (August 12, 2009) and the system is exiting eclipse after the MJD 55797 ± 15d (August 23, 2011). We estimate the duration of the 2009–2011 eclipse to be 710 ± 21 days. A rather possible trend for mid-eclipse brightening exists only in the CCD/DSLR data, which show oscillations of 0.07 magnitude amplitude.