superhump
Sign in to savethumb|right|upright=1.4|Light curve of eclipsing dwarf nova HT Cassiopeiae during outburst, showing [[eclipses and SU Ursae Majoris-type superhumps]] In astronomy, a superhump is a periodic brightness variation in a cataclysmic variable star system, with a period within a few percent of the orbital period of the system.
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Article
4 sectionsContents
- History
- Period excess
- Physical origin
- References
thumb|right|upright=1.4|Light curve of eclipsing dwarf nova HT Cassiopeiae during outburst, showing [[eclipses and SU Ursae Majoris-type superhumps]] In astronomy, a superhump is a periodic brightness variation in a cataclysmic variable star system, with a period within a few percent of the orbital period of the system.
==History== Superhumps were first seen in SU Ursae Majoris (SU UMa) stars, a subclass of dwarf novae, at times when the binary system underwent a superoutburst, which is an unusually strong outburst (increase in brightness) caused by an increased accretion rate.