To Pulsate or to Eclipse? Status of KIC 9832227 Variable Star

The variable star known as NSVS 5597754 was identified as a short period RRc field star from ground-based photometry. This star happens to fall in the Kepler field of view and has been observed for 3 years with the Kepler spacecraft. Renamed KIC 9832227, this star was reidentified as an eclipsing binary with a periodicity of 0.457970 days. The NSVS ground based photometry yielded a period solution of 0.229 days. The Kepler photometry, which sampled the light cycle every 30 minutes, shows a peculiar behavior that is not purely eclipsing superposed over the primary variation. Follow-up ground based observations were taken in 2010 with the 0.6m MSU Observatory to obtain additional information. I present a summary of the ground based data taken of this perplexing star and conclusions derived thus far.