SUMMARY OF PROPOSAL 82031
NASA-GSFC / USRA
GREENBELT
MD USA 20771
Tel: 301-286-9447 Fax: 301-286-1684
Medium: CD ROM
Subject: CATACLYSMIC VARIABLES
POLE-SWITCHING IN THE ASYNCHRONOUS POLAR BY CAMELOPARDALIS
ABSTRACT
BY Cam is an Asynchronous Polar with a 14.5 day beat cycle; in a Ginga observation, it was seen to change from a 'pulsing' to a 'flaring' state, presumably due to the change in the accretion geometry as the orientation of the white dwarf's magnetic field changed relative to the secondary. We propose a 4 week (2 beat cycles) campaign to (i) re-measure the spin period to determine if BY Cam is re-synchronizing; and (ii) observe the effect of changing magnetic field orientation on the accretion geometry and hence on the X-ray light curves.
CO-INVESTIGATORS
TARGETS
| TARGET NAME | PRI | RA | DEC | TIME | TC | OFF | GIS | SIS CNT | OBS |
|---|
| 1)BY CAM | A | 85.7042 | 60.8586 | 500 ks | N | Y | P | 1.10000 | 1 |
TARGET 1
REQUEST TOTAL ELAPSED TIME OF 4 WEEKS (=2 BEAT CYCLES) OR 2 WEEKS (=1 CYCLE), REGARDLESS OF EFFECTIVE EXPOSURE TIME.