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light curve

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graph of light intensity of a celestial object or region, as a function of time

~8 min read

Encyclopedic overview

Light curve of the asteroid 201 Penelope based on images taken on 6 October 2006 at Mount John University Observatory. Shows just over one full rotation, which lasts 3.7474 hours.

In astronomy, a light curve is a graph of the light intensity of a celestial object or region as a function of time, typically with the magnitude of light received on the y-axis and with time on the x-axis. The light is usually in a particular frequency interval or band.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “light curve” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.