Studying Variable Stars with Undergraduate Students at the University of Nebraska Kearney (Abstract)

Volume 44 number 2 (2016)

William Lee Powell Jr.

University of Nebraska at Kearney Department of Physics, Bruner Hall of Science, 2401 11th Avenue, Kearney, NE 68849; powellwl@unk.edu

Abstract

(Abstract only) Over the past several years I have involved undergraduate students in studies of intrinsic variable stars and, more recently, binary stars. In this talk I will address the challenges that come when working exclusively with undergraduate students, as well as detail recent results from this work. In particular I will cover the results of a study of three RR Lyrae (RRL) stars that were identified from the SDSS using a novel technique, and a follow-up study on a previously unknown W UMa contact binary star that exhibits the O’Connell Effect (OCE) that we found in the field of one of the RRL we studied. Finally, I will describe our current work on binary stars and the OCE. Our current work will also be presented in more detail in my student’s poster at this meeting.