Monitoring of AM Her for international observing campaign
Abstract:
1996 marks the 20th birthday of the discovery of AM Her, a magnetic cataclysmic variable. In celebration of this birthday an international campaign has been organized to obtain multiwavelength observations of AM Her using space-borne telescopes, such as the International Ultraviolet Observer (IUE), Hubble Space Telescope (HST), ROentgen SATellite (ROSAT), and Infrared Space Observatory (ISO), and possibly the x-ray satellite SAX, as well as ground-based photometric and spectroscopic observations.
Justification:
It would be very helpful, especially for the planning of satellite-based observations, to keep track of the optical magnitudes of AM Her. AM Her shows an erratic variability, ranging from fluctuations in a few days to prolonged low and high states (up to years). The behavior of AM Her is known in detail only at optical wavelengths, thanks to the effort of many amateur astronomers around the world. Detailed knowledge of the accretion history in the system is crucial for our scientific aims, which include determining changes in the mass transfer rate, probing the thermal response of the white dwarf, searching for contamination by metal-rich accreted material, deriving the mass of the white dwarf and the secondary from radial velocity measurements, and determining the field structure and accretion geometry.
Requested Data Types:
Spectroscopy, Photometry
Targets
| Name | Magnitude | Variability Type | Photometry Notes | Spectroscopy Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AM Her | 12.30 | AM+E |
Cadence: Not Specified Precision: 100 |
Cadence: Not Specified Resolution: 250 Desired SNR: 100 |
Spectroscopy Lines:
No spectroscopy lines provided
Photometry Filters:
No photometry filters provided
Comparison Stars:
No comparison stars provided
Co-Authorship
Observers are not eligible for co-authorship.
Additional Observer Input:
Not provided
Additional Submission Location:
Not provided
Forum URL
N/A
Notes:
Principal Investigator: Dr. Boris Gaensicke; Imported Campaign (Alert Notice #218)