Eclipse studies of the dwarf nova HT Cassiopeiae. I, Observations and system parameters

Optical eclipses are used to investigate the structure of the dwarf nova HT Cas. We present high-speed multicolor light curves covering four eclipses at UBR in 1982 September and 12 eclipses at UBVR in 1983 November-December. From the latter we derive high-quality mean light curves that cleanly separate the white dwarf and accretion disk eclipses. The bright spot is weak or absent during our observations, but a 0.3 mag orbital modulation, centered on mid-eclipse, is seen in the U-band. We define a purely photometric model of the system using contact timings of the white dwarf from the data presented here and measurements of the bright spot eclipses in other data (published by Patterson in 1981).