Surface Brightness Variation of the Contact Binary SW Lac: Clues From Doppler Imaging

Abstract

Abstract. In this study, we present the preliminary light curve analysis of the contact binary SW Lac, using B, V light curves of the system spanning 2 years (2009 -2010). During the spot modeling process, we used the information coming from the Doppler maps of the system, which was performed using the high resolution and phase dependent spectra obtained at the 2.1m Otto Struve Telescope of the McDonald Observatory, in 2009. The results showed that the spot modeling from the light curve analysis are in accordance with the Doppler maps, while the non-circular spot modeling technique is needed in order to obtain much better and reliable spot models.