VV Pup the polar
Observed: 25, 31 Jan, 1 Feb 2006
Michel Bonnardeau
8 Feb 2006
Updated 29 Dec 2007 (phase origin)
Abstract
Light curves for this cataclysmic polar are presented.
Introduction
VV Pup is a cataclysmic system, that is a binary with an accreting white
dwarf. The white dwarf is strongly magnetized (about 10^8 gauss), its
spin is synchronized with the orbital motion, and the accretion is funneled
by the magnetic field (no accretion disk). This type of cataclysmic is
a polar or an AM Her. The orbital/spin period is 100.44 mn, the distance
145 pc (Warner (1995)).
Observations
The observations were carried out with a 203 mm f/6.3 SC telescope,
a filter wheel and a SBIG ST7E camera. Each exposure is 200s long.
A Clear filter was used for the 25 Jan session.
For the 31 Jan and 1 Feb sessions, two perpendicular polarized filters
were used alternatively. This was in a vain attempt at observing
VV Pup polarization (Warner (1995) page 333).
The comparison star is GSC 6004-03141 with an assumed magnitude of 13.000
whatever the filter. The check star is an anonymous star at RA=08:15:12.93,
DEC=-19:02:14.3, with an observed average unfiltered magnitude of 15.104
(standard deviation 0.047), with one of the polarization filter 15.124
(0.058) and with the other polarization filter 15.101 (0.068).
The light curves:
UNFILTERED. Red: VV Pup. Blue: the check star, shifted by +1.5 mag.
The error bars are +/- the 1-sigma statistical uncertainties.
POLARIZED. Red: polarizer parallel to the DEC axis, Blue: parallel to the RA axis.
POLARIZED. Red: polarizer at 45° from the RA/DEC axes, Blue: perpendicular
to the first filter.
The data may be folded with the orbital/spin period:
Green: unfiltered. Blue, red: polarization filters.
The phase is computed for a period of 0.069747d and 2,453,000.0 as the origin.
Reference
Warner B. (1995) Cataclysmic Variable Stars Cambridge UP.
Technical notes
Telescope and camera configuration.
Computer and software configuration.
More observations
2007 follow up observations.