Observation of Three Variable Stars and an Asteroid Using Small Telescopes in the United Arab Emirates (UAE)

Abstract

We present the results of using small telescopes in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) for observing variable stars and asteroids. Two telescopes, namely, 5” apochromatic refractor and 14” Schmidt-Cassegrain, at Al-Khatim Observatory (M44) were used for the observations. The targets were the three variable stars RR GEM, AG LMi, and DL CMi and the asteroid 22 Kalliope. We found a good consistency between our light curves and published ones for the calibration targets, i.e., the asteroid 22 Kalliope and the variable star RR GEM. According to previous studies, AG LMi has two suggested periods, 16.3 hours and 32.62 hours. Our results clearly confirm the second one, with a period of 32.6175 hours. The star DL CMi has several suggested periods as per previous studies, such as 4.0173 days, 1.9606 days, and 2.0086 days. Our observations confirm the first one, with a period of 4.0159 days. These results demonstrate the effectiveness of using small telescopes for observing variable stars and asteroids. This work provides some recommendations on using small telescopes for such observations.