Previous
abstract 
Next
abstract
The thirteenth mag variable, EK Comae Berenices, was discovered by Kinman (1966) in a study of the fields near the North Galactic Pole. He identified it as a W UMa variable. This binary was brought to our attention by the AAVSO observer,Borovicka, who conducted a thorough visual investigation. Subsequently, we obtained complete B,V photoelectric light curves of the system phased from observations taken 11, 12 and 14 February and 9, 12 May, 1994 at Lowell Observatory, Flagstaff, Arizona. The 0.78-m National Undergraduate Research Observatory reflector was used with a thermoelectrically cooled PMT. Five epochs of minimum light were determined from observations made during two secondary and three primary eclipses. The bisection-of-chords technique was utilized in their determination. Improved linear and quadratic ephemerides were calculated from all available epochs of minima. The quadratic term of the second ephemeris is marginally significant and negative. Because of its small magnitude and doubtful significance, we cannot regard it as proof that the orbital evolution of EK Com is now dominated by magnetic breaking. The B, V simultaneous light curve solution yields an extreme mass ratio of 3.3 and a fill-out of 10%. We also modeled a 12 degree super-luminous region on the cooler component, simultaneously adjusting its parameters in the WD differential corrections procedure along with the other light curve parameters.
