Saturday, September 15, 2012

KIC 11869052 - Disappearing Eclipsing Binary


Kian Jek posted this detrended, combined light curve for KIC 11869052 above showing that the eclipsing binary star system has an evolving orbit with its transit drops diminishing over time. No secondary transits are visible which may indicated that they have already disappeared. This is a published eclipsing binary.



Kian Jek:

Here's the OC-plot. The TTVs aren't that marked, about 20 minutes at maximum and they tend to vary a bit, but the curve fits look good. Probably a long period tertiary in there somewhere. The eclipses are very shallow, this EB probably has been eclipsing for quite some time, and I guess we're very lucky to catch this just as it disappears (just what are the odds of this happening?)

Planet Hunters forum Talk member troyw spotted the evolving orbit using the Amateur Kepler Observatory program (AKO). Notice how the horizontal signal indicating a transit is fading out from left to right.

This system has a fading set of primary transits with a slight wobble (TTVs) in the transit line. No secondary transits (that I could see).
p = 20.5469d
 You can follow this eclipsing star system on the Planet Hunters Talk thread here.

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