Detailed period study of Delta Capricorni

Detailed period study of the eclipsing binary system Delta Cap is presented. Available times of minima have been classified, and two minima have been found off the instant period trend. A new period of 1.^d0227789 has been given. Period changes in different portions of the O?C diagram have been estimated, which range from 6.4×10^?6 d to 1.8×10^?3 d (?), the average being 3.5×10^?5 d. A sinusoidal variation is evident in the O?C diagrams, which is indicative of the possible presence of a third body, having a period of nearly 62 years, however, it is yet to be confirmed.     

A new period and period changes of GG Cassiopeiae

The O–C diagram of the eclipsing binary GG Cassiopeiae has been presented for the first time, and the period changes present in the system have been analysed. In all three period changes are noted. The strongest period change has been found to occur in the time-interval 1942 to 1966. The total period change in different portions of the O–C diagram ranges from 7.1×10^–7 d to 2.0×10^–5 d. The stronger period changes appear to have occurred after 1942; prior to it, the system has shown a negligible period change. The overall picture of the O–C diagram suggests that the O–C values of the system GG Cas are negative after 1942. The presence of a third body does not appear probable. The period fluctuations are also appreciable. A new period (P=3 _. ^d 758733) has been presented.     

A new period and period trend of IZ Persei

A new period (P=3^d.687664) of the eclipsing binary system IZ Persei is given, based on 16 observed times of the minima. O–C diagrams of IZ Per have been presented for the first time, and the period variations have been estimated in different portions of the O–C diagram. Significant period changes do not appear to have occurred in IZ Per. The O–C diagrams suggest that the period of the system is continuously increasing at a rate of 25^s yr^–1. Period variations of the order of 10^–5 d appear to have occurred around the years 1969, 1972, and 1978. The period increases are stronger than the period decreases; but these are yet to be confirmed. The overall picture of IZ Per suggests that strong period changes are not present in the system; however, slow increase of period is apparent in IZ Per. The total period change (3×10^–6 d) till the last epoch is in agreement with the newly derived period of IZ Per.     

New period and period variations of DX Aquarii

The new period (P=0 _. ^d 461700) of the eclipsing binary system DX Aqr has been presented, which is based on available times of minima. O–C diagram of DX Aqr has been presented for the first time, and the period variations present in the system have been analysed. In all five period increases and five period decreases are nothed, and four period increases and five period decreases have been discussed. The strongest period increase occurs between 1975 and 1976. The total period change in different portions of the O–C diagram ranges from 1.40×10^–4 d to 3.61×10^–6 d. Appreciable period fluctuations have been noted to have occurred in the time intervals, 1964–1965 and 1974–1975.     

Period changes in DF Hydrae

The period study of the eclipsing binary DF Hya, based on up-to-date minima has been presented. The least-squares method has been applied to obtain a new period, which comes out to be 0 _. ^d 3306017. Period changes are found around the years 1949, 1974, and 1982. Appreciable period changes are apparent around 1949 and 1974, the strongest being around 1974. The period changes (P) range from 0.46×10^–6 d to 0.46×10^–5 d, the average being 1.89×10^–6 d. Such period changes are usual for a contact system, like DF Hya. Our results do not show increase in the time interval 1959–1985 as suggested by Zhanget al. (1989).     

Period study of GH Pegasi

The period study of the eclipsing binary system GH Pegasi has been presented for the first time. A new period (P=2^d.556135) of GH Peg, based on all available times of minima, has been given. O–C diagrams of the system have also been presented for the first time, and the period changes present in the system have been analysed. The period shows changes around the year 1972 and 1981. The total period change in different portions of the O–C diagram, based on the corrected period, ranges from 5.2×10^–6 d to 7.0×10^–5 d. The photoelectric minima show sufficiently large scatter in the system.     

Period study of XX cassiopeiae

New period (P=3^d.067182) of the eclipsing binary system XX Cassiopeiae has been given, which is based on thirty-nine minima. O–C diagram of XX Cas has been presented for the first time, and the period variations present in the system have been analysed. In all seven period increases and four period decreases are noted in the time-interval 1922 to 1983. Strongest period change occurs in the time-interval 1929 to 1933. The total period change in different portions of the O–C diagram ranges from 6.1×10^–7 d to 6.3×10^–4 d. Appreciable period fluctuations are noted in the time-interval 1922 to 1936. The possibility of the presence of a third body has been suspected.     

Period study of IT Persei

A new period (P=1 _. ^d 533731) of the eclipsing binary system IT Persei has been given, which is based on all available times of minima. O-C diagrams of IT Persei, based on the period given in PPEN (1980) and based on the new period, have been given.Long-term period changes are not present in the system, however, some period fluctuations of the order of 10^–5d are seen around the years 1907, 1921, and 1933.     

RS CVn-binary RW com: A possible three-body system

A first detailed period study of the eclipsing RS CVn-binary system RW Com is presented. A new period (P=0^d.2373455) based on 223 minima is given. The O–C diagrams of RW Com have been presented for the first time. Types of ten minima have been corrected judging the period trend. Period changes in different portions of the O–C diagram (Figure 2) have been estimated. The total change in period (P/P) ranges from 5.5×10^–7 to 6.4×10^–6. Thus, P ranges from 1.3×10^–7 d to 1.5×10^–6 d. Numerous minima are available in the time interval 1967 to 1986. This part of the O–C diagram (Figure 2) shows a sinusoidal variation, thus, it is suspected that RW Com could be a three-body system. The period of variation due to third body appears to be nearly 16 years.     

ST Persei: A possible multi-body system

Detailed period study of the eclipsing binary ST Per is presented. A new period (P=2^d.648339) is given. Period changes in different portions of the O-C diagram with a new period have been estimated. The total changes in period (P) ranges from 2.17×10^–5d to 2.64×10^–4d which is appreciably large. Sufficient number of minima in the time interval 1934 to 1985 for this system are available. Distinct increasing and decreasing trends are evident, the change in the tendency appears to have occurred around 1947. Sinusoidal variation is seen between cycles 7000–10000, which indicates that ST Per is a three-body system, the period of the third body being about 22 years. However, the sinusoidal variation is not perfectly symmetric in shape, therefore, it is suspected that ST Per is a four-(or multi-) body system.     

Period study of XY Ceti

A first period study of the eclipsing binary XY Ceti is presented. A new period (P=2^d.7807135), based on all available times of minima, is given. Period changes in different portions of the O–C diagram, with a new period, have been estimated. The total change in period (P/P) ranges from 1.1×10^–5 d to 1.2×10^–4 d, thus, P ranges from 3.1×10^–5 d to 3.3×10^–4 d. The O–C diagram suggests that the trend of the period has changed around the year 1959. Two portions of increasing and decreasing trends also reveal that the period changes (P/P) of the order of 10^–5 d are present, which are appreciably large.     

A period study of V450 Herculis

A detailed period study of the eclipsing binary system V450 Her has been presented. A new period (P= _. ^d 12724) has been given. The period changes in different portions of the O-C diagram, based on new period, have been estimated. The total period change ranges from 3.28×10^–6 d to 7.06×10^–5 d, which is appreciable.     

Period variations of the eclipsing system EE Aquarii

The O–C diagrams of EE Aquarii have been presented for the first time, the period variations present in the system have been analysed, and tentative results have been presented. In all, four period decreases and three period increases are noted in the time interval 1940 to 1985. The strongest period change is noted in the time interval 1957 to 1959. Sufficiently strong period changes have also been noted in the time intervals, 1948 to 1950 and 1970 to 1976. Besides four period decreases and three period increases, eleven period fluctuations are also seen in the O–C diagram (II) of EE Aqr. The total period change in different portions of the O–C diagram (II) ranges from 1.7×10^–7 d to 8.2×10^–6 d. The period increases are stronger than the period decreases. An overall picture of the period variations suggests that weak period variations are present in the system EE Aqr.     

Period changes in EI Cephei

A new period (P=8^d.439422) of the eclipsing binary system EI Cephei has been given, which is based on all available times of minima. Periods using Strohmeier's (1958) epoch have also been presented for the observations given by other investigators. Period based on only photoelectric minima comes out to be 8^d.439336, which is lesser than the earlier periods given in the literature. O-C diagrams of EI Cephei have been presented for the first time, and period variations have been estimated in different portions of the O-C diagram (Figure 2) of EI Cephei. Strong period changes have occurred around the years 1959 and 1965. The total change in period (P/P) ranges from 6.7×10^–5 to 4.3×10^–4. Thus, P of the order of 10^–3 d are present, which fact suggests that strong period variations are present in EI Cephei. However, periods given by various investigators show no systematic trend of period variations. The existence of a third body in the system could not be confirmed.     

Photometric study of the algol-type eclipsing binary EU hydrae

In this paper, we give theBV photoelectric light curves of the Algol-type eclipsing binary EU Hydrae. We have analysed its period by means of the times of minima determined from this observation and the times of minima which other observers published. The period was found to gradually decrease with a change rate dP/dE = -3 _. ^d 29 × 10^–10. The obtained light curves have been solved using Wilson-Devinney's synthetic light-curve program. The results demonstrate that EU Hydrae is a detached system, the secondary component fills the Roche-lobe, its mass ratio is 0.205. EU Hya may evolve to be a semidetached system in which the secondary component fills the Roche-lobe.     

On the period variations of several low declination high amplitude delta Scuti variables

A 16-inch Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope on the campus of Naresuan University of Thailand and several similar-size telescopes in China equipped with CCD cameras were used to observe 14 high amplitude delta Scuti stars: GP And, CY Aqr, BS Aqr, YZ Boo, AD CMi, VZ Cnc, EH Lib, DY Her, V927 Her, KZ Hya, BE Lyn, V1162 Ori, DY Peg, and CW Ser, between the years 1999 and 2010. Data were also collected from scientific journals and sources on the Internet for these variable stars. Times of light maximum of these delta Scuti stars were then either determined from the observations or obtained from the literature to analyze the pulsation period variations. For the 14 delta Scuti stars we concluded that 7 stars (BS Aqr, CY Aqr, AD CMi, EH Lib, KZ Hya, BE Lyn and DY Peg) are binary or multiple systems. 10 delta Scuti stars are found with periods increasing with rates between 5.86×10⁻⁹ and 2.34×10⁻⁶ per year and the other 4 stars (BS Aqr, DY Her, BE Lyn and DY Peg) show periods decreasing with rates of about 10⁻⁹ to 10⁻⁸ per year.     

New period study of the eclipsing binary V865 Cygni

Several new precise times of minima, based on CCD observations, have been secured for the relatively seldom studied eclipsing binary V865 Cyg (P=0^d.365 days). Its O–C diagram was analysed and new light elements are given. We showed that there is probably no parabolic period increase in V865 Cyg. Instead, a single abrupt period increase can be distinguished in the O–C diagram.     

Period variations in BZ Eridani

The O-C diagram of BZ Eri has been presented for the first time, and the period variations present in the system have been analysed. In all, eight period decreases and eight period increases are noticed. Of these, four period decreases and seven period increases are appreciable. The strongest period changes are noticed in the interval 1960 to 1962. The total period change in different portions of the O-C diagram ranges from 1.17×10^–3 d to 3.96×10^–6 d. The trend of the period variation appears to have reversed around the year 1980.     

Search for evolutionary changes in the periods of Cepheids: U Sgr

For the classical Cepheid U Sgr, we have constructed an O - C diagram spanning a time interval of 144 years. The O - C diagram has the shape of a parabola, which has made it possible to determine for the first time the quadratic light elements and to calculate the rate of evolutionary increase in the period, dP/dt = 0.39 (±0.10) s yr^?1, in agreement with the results of theoretical calculations for the third crossing of the instability strip. The available data reduced by the Eddington-Plakidis method reveal small random period fluctuations that do not distort the evolutionary trend in the O - C residuals.     

Orbital period variation of the eclipsing binary system TT Herculis

New photoelectric UBV observations were obtained for the eclipsing binary TT Her at the Ankara University Observatory (AUO) and three new times of minima were calculated from these observations. The (O – C) diagram constructed for all available times of minima of TT Her exhibits a cyclic character superimposed on a quadratic variation. The quadratic character yields an orbital period decrease with a rate of dP /dt = –8.83 × 10^–8 day yr^–1 which can be attributed to the mass exchange/loss mechanism in the system. By assuming the presence of a gravitationally bound third body in the system, the analysis of the cyclic nature in the (O – C) diagram revealed a third body with a mass of 0.21M_⊙ orbiting around the eclipsing pair. The possibility of magnetic activity cycle effect as a cause for the observed cyclic variation in the (O – C) diagram was also discussed. (© 2007 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)