Discoveries of Variable Stars by Amateur Astronomers Using Data Mining on the Example of Eclipsing Binary Romanov V20 (Abstract)

Volume 49 number 1 (2021)

Filipp Romanov

Pobedy Street, House 3, Flat 30, Yuzhno-Morskoy, Nakhodka, Primorsky Krai, Russian Federation 692954; filipp.romanov.27.04.1997@gmail.com

Abstract

(Abstract only) I report my discovery of a high-amplitude Algol-type eclipsing variable star in the constellation Centaurus which was registered in the AAVSO’s Variable Star Index (VSX) on December 3, 2018 under the name of Romanov V20. I describe the process of my analysis of data from VizieR catalogues to select this star as a candidate for searching for variability and to check if the variability of the star was known before. I inform how I used photometry data from several sky surveys to find variability, and how I researched these data in the software VStar for light curve analysis and for period search. I explain about registering variable stars in VSX, and about my requesting from the AAVSO a chart with comparison star magnitudes and about my follow-up observations of the primary eclipse of this sufficiently bright star with a remote telescope in Australia. I produce photometric measurements of Romanov V20 from these images and compare them with data from sky surveys, and using this variable star as an example, I show that amateur astronomers can make astronomical discoveries and can conduct scientific research even without astronomical equipment, regardless of geographic location. Beisides this variable star, I am currently the discoverer of 70 other variable stars, which have also been registered in VSX since January 2016.