Variable Stars Lab Report

Intro Variable stars are important in astronomy because they provide information on the properties of the stars. Variable stars vary in brightness over time and have periods ranging from a couple hours to hundreds of days. Moreover, pulsating stars are variable stars and have two types of pulsating stars, such as RR Lyrae and Cepheid. Additionally, the simulators in this lab gives individuals a visual model of how variable stars are determined and measured. Therefore, the simulators will give individuals a full understanding of the variable stars.

Procedure In the first activity, I used the Registration Simulator to align the images of a star field. For instance, I aligned starfield 2 with starfield 3, so each star would be aligned in each image. I noticed as I aligned the images, the x and y offset would either decrease or increase. For example, as I moved the image upward and to the right, the y offset decreased and the x offset increased. As a result, I learned the photographic plates were placed in a blink comparator, which was used to find objects that were moving relative to the background stars. In the second activity, I used the Blink Comparator Simulator to create various blinking sequences to identify the variables. For instance, I created a blinking sequence for variable one of 112 for the x coordinate and 55 for the y
The first activity demonstrated the alignment of the images of a star field and the second activity demonstrated various blinking sequences to identify the variables. Additionally, I learned how the properties of variable stars are determined. For example, the Photometry Simulator in third activity were used to determine the brightness of the stars. Also, the Variable Star Photometry Analyzer in the fourth activity were used to determine the differential magnitudes of the stars. Consequently, the simulators in the Variable Star Photometry lab allowed me to understand variable