Tracking Spectroscopically Determined H-alpha and H-beta Indices for Two Emission-Line Objects

Volume 51 number 2 (2023)

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Tyler B. Harding

Department of Physics and Astronomy, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT 84602

Eric G. Hintz

Department of Physics and Astronomy, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT 84602; hintz@byu.edu

Abstract

Spectroscopic methods were used to monitor the Hα and Hβ indices for two emission-line objects, X Persei and γ Cassiopeiae. The spectroscopic data covered a timeline from 2010 to 2020. The Hα index for X Per showed substantial variation, with the Hβ index changes being less pronounced. The shape of the Hα variations for X Per were a mirror image to archival V-magnitude observations. In the case of γ Cas only a slight rise in value for the Hα index was seen. To allow comparison to published observations, we determined a transformation from the two indices to equivalent width values. The values determined for X Per fill time gaps in the previously published equivalent width values. The γ Cas values provide no additional coverage.