The unique eclipsing system KH 15D: New photometric data

We present results of photometric observations of the young eclipsing system KH 15D made during two observational seasons, 2002–2004. A comparison of our data with the earlier results of Hamilton et al. and Herbst et al. reveals the existence of a multiyear photometric trend in the brightness: over a period of 5 years the brightness of the system in the I_c band decreased by almost 1 stellar magnitude. It is also shown that the systematic variations in the eclipse parameters reported by Herbst et al. continue to the present. The shape of the light curve has not changed significantly and, as before, it is characterized by a slight brightening in the central portion of the eclipses. These results are discussed in the context of current models for KH 15D.Translated from Astrofizika, Vol. 48, No. 1, pp. 5–14 (February 2005).