Times of minima and period changes of eclipsing binaries as a programme for small telescopes

Extract

Investigations of times of minima in eclipsing binaries give us important clues concerning a number of quite different and frequently unrelated phenomena such as the apsidal motion, mass-loss, mass-transfer or gravitational radiation. It is hard to over-estimate the importance of these relatively easy observations. However, simple statistics show that much remains to be done to assure proper data for even a moderate-size sample of eclipsing binaries. Here we present essential results of such statistics made for stars brighter than 12 magnitude in minima (this limit assumed arbitrarily as accessible to small-telescope observers).