Of the billions of stars which compose a galaxy, a few will be members of the so called eclipsing binary star systems. These are systems in which two stars orbit a common center of mass and the orbital plane is oriented along the observer's line of sight. Even though such systems appear as a single point of light, due to the extreme distance from the earth, the structure can be inferred from the observed light variations produced as each star eclipses its companion.The writer constructed the necessary equipment and carried out photoelectric observations of the star system V566 Ophiuchi. A mathematical model was also constructed which produced some approximate dimensions of this system. Three time:; of minimum light were found that indicate that the orbital period has undergone some change during the last few years. The most likely cause for this change is some type of physical interaction between the two stellar components.

Stellar photography has found use in the calibration of mapping cameras and in determining the orientation of the stellar cameras serving as attitude sensors, e.g. the lunar mapping cameras on the NASA Apollo 15, 16, and 17 missions. The equations used to relate the image measurements to the attitude of the camera are the collinearity equations of photogrammetry. These require initial approximations to the unknown attitude angles and the use of an iterative Gaussian correction algorithm. Simpler methods are described which do not require initial approximations to the unknown angles. Two of the methods are modifications of the Church method of space resection and the third is based on the mathematical formulation of a rotation transformation about a single axis. The methods require only two images for a solution. Modifications are given for using the methods with aerial and terrestrial photographs when the camera position is known and two or more control points are imaged on a photograph. / Master of Engineering