Observational Studies of Cataclysmic Variables and Related Objects

罗宾逊建议在博士后助理艾伦·沙夫特的帮助下，继续观测激变变星。将使用日食类型的光变化的光度学来了解吸积盘。光的快速变化的测光可能会被解释为吸积盘边缘的动态现象。光谱学将得出径向速度。需要仔细的辅助测量才能确定速度所指的双星系统的哪一部分。此外，还列出了一些其他项目。许多恒星成对出现，以几小时或几天的时间围绕彼此运行。随着年龄的增长，一位明星可能会失去质量给另一位，有时会以非常戏剧性和爆炸性的方式出现。这个项目是为了观测一类具有质量转移的双星，称为激变变星。它们由一颗普通恒星和一颗地球大小的恒星加上一个慢慢向后者旋转的气体盘组成。这些系统是质量转移双星中最容易观察到的。他们的观察将为理解更复杂、更具爆炸性的系统奠定基础。

Robinson proposes to continue observations of cataclysmic variable stars with the help of post-doctoral associate Allen Shafter. Photometry of eclipse-type light variations will be used to learn about accretion disks. Photometry of rapid light variations will probably be interpreted in terms of dynamic phenomena at the edges of accretion disks. Spectroscopy will yield radial velocities. Careful subsidiary measurements will be needed to establish just what part of the binary system the velocities refer to. Some additional projects are listed. Many stars occur in pairs, moving around each other in hours or days. As they age, one star may lose mass to the other, sometimes in highly dramatic and explosive fashion. This program is to observe one category of such binary stars with mass transfer, called cataclysmic variables. They consist of an ordinary and an Earth-sized star plus a disk of gas slowly swirling toward the latter. These systems are the most observable of the mass-transferring binaries. Their observation will lay the groundwork for understanding the more complex and more explosive systems.