Abstract

Pictures of the Sun and Beta Persei (Algol) are to be taken with a Charged Coupled Device (CCD) camera. In addition to the camera, a H-alpha/Red Continuum filter set will be used to view the chromosphere of the sun. Pictures of Algol will be analyzed to find its visual magnitude, and then compared to known data in the form of a phase diagram. Algol, which is an eclipsing binary star, will be studied to find the change in magnitude as a function of time. The theoretical number of photons that were incident on the CCD camera from the Sun and Beta Persei will be found using Planck's Law and various blackbody radiation equations, and in turn the number of electrons collected in the pixels of the camera for each of these objects will be found. These results will be compared to the experimental number of photons found for these two objects from the CCD camera.