Real Light Curves The light curves published on web pages are usually very carefully selected because they look impressive. In reality, not all light curves look so good. Here are some of mine...

TW Dra has a range of over 2 mags … but in 2009, I never managed to catch it in eclipse

Sometimes you miss seeing the primary eclipse, … but do catch the secondary eclipse

Here,, the maximum near phase 0.1 and the eclipses near phases 0.35 & 0.8 can be seen, but the maximum near phase 0.6 was almost missed !

Sometimes you can’t see mid eclipse because the EB becomes too faint for you to see. At mid eclipse, RW Tau is around mag 11.0

The start of this eclipse of TV Cas ( ) started in daylight. Cloud then intervened before the eclipse was over

If you observe low amplitude EBs, scatter will be a problem. However, the general pattern of variation can still be seen

When you first start observing, you expect that eclipses will be symmetrical. Not all are, as is shown by this RZ Cas light curve

Whenever possible, its best to observe the whole eclipse in one night. Otherwise different sky conditions or changes in the light curve shape will lead to scatter

Beta Lyrae, however, has eclipses that last more than a day … so you have to observe on many different nights

LY Aur has a period very close to 4 days. This means that you keep catching it at the same phases for months on end. In 2009, this wasn’t too bad because eclipses were occurring at night.

In 2007, however, eclipses were occurring during daylight. Hence the light curve was less impressive

The lesson is to not be put off if your some of your light curves are disappointing It happens to everyone – but every so often, you will have more luck

The secondary eclipse of RZ Cas is usually said to be too small to be seen visually. But it does show up near phase 0.5 in this light curve from 2009