German high-school students involved in an astronomical research project

Cataclysmic variable stars

This week, Astronomy & Astrophysics publishes a somewhat unusual research article because it is co-authored by German high-school students. Led by astronomer Klaus Beuermann (University of Göttingen, Germany), the team [1] involves a secondary school physics teacher, three students from two high schools in Göttingen [2], and three professional astronomers. The team made use of a remotely-controlled 1.2-meter telescope in Texas [3], funded by the Alfried Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach Foundation for the expressed purpose of making such resources available to schools as well as professional astronomers. The students, S. Paik, A.-M. Ploch, and J. Zachmann, and their teacher, J. Diese, observed the light variations of the faint (19th magnitude) cataclysmic variable EK Ursae Majoris (EK UMa) over two months.

Cataclysmic variable research is a field where the contributions of small telescopes has a long tradition. Cataclysmic variables are extremely close binary systems containing a low-mass star whose material is being stripped off by the gravitational pull of a white dwarf companion. Due to the transfer of matter between the stars, these systems vary dramatically in brightness on timescales in the whole range between seconds and years. This largely unpredictable variability makes them ideal targets for school projects, particularly since professional observatories are generally unable to provide enough observation time for regular monitoring.