Inspired by a fascinating presentation on variable stars at the Helios astronomy club, I decided to try my hand at capturing a complete light curve of my own. Locating the target proved a bit tricky with the ASIAIR interface, so I first centered on NGC 780 to get everything properly framed before locking onto the eclipsing binary X Tri (SAO72085). With high humidity threatening the session, I made sure to hook up my dew heaters to keep the optics crystal clear against the condensation. Using my TS-TLAPO80/480 refractor paired with the ASI2600MC camera, I carried out a continuous session lasting two and a half hours, taking ten second exposures to track the photometric variation reliably. For the reduction and photometry, I utilized ASTAP to extract and process measurements across the green, red, and blue channels. Analyzing the recorded magnitude values reveals the full eclipse event in clear detail, starting from an initial magnitude of 9.485, dropping smoothly down to a deep minimum of 11.119, and recovering back up to 9.323 magnitude by the end of the run. This yields a net observed magnitude drop of 1.63 magnitudes relative to the start. The measurements clearly trace the progression, with curve fitting pinpointing the exact minimum right around 20:38 UT, beautifully matching the prediction and giving me a tremendous rush to see real astrophysical data emerge from my own backyard setup.
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