Home     Getting Started     To Survive in the Universe    
Inhabited Sky
    News@Sky     Astro Photo     The Collection     Forum     Blog New!     FAQ     Press     Login  

64 Psc


Contents

Images

Upload your image

DSS Images   Other Images


Related articles

New Precision Orbits of Bright Double-Lined Spectroscopic Binaries. I. RR Lyncis, 12 Bootis, and HR 6169
Radial velocities from the 2.1 m telescope at McDonald Observatorysupplemented with radial velocities from the coudé feed telescopeat Kitt Peak National Observatory provide new precise orbits for thedouble-lined spectroscopic binaries RR Lyn (A3/A8/A6), 12 Boo (F8 IV),and HR 6169 (A2 V). We derive orbital dimensions (a1sini anda2sini) and minimum masses (m1sin3i andm2sin3i) with accuracies of 0.06%-0.9%. The three systems,which have V magnitudes of 5.53, 4.82, and 6.42, respectively, are allsufficiently bright that they are easily within the grasp of modernoptical interferometers and so afford the prospect, when ourspectroscopic observations are complemented by interferometricobservations, of fully determined orbits, precise masses, and distances.In the case of RR Lyn, which is also a detached eclipsing binary with awell-determined orbital inclination (i=87.45d+/-0.11d), we are able todetermine the semimajor axis of the relative orbit, a=29.32+/-0.04Rsolar primary and secondary radii of 2.57+/-0.02 and1.59+/-0.03 Rsolar, respectively; and primary and secondarymasses of 1.927+/-0.008 and 1.507+/-0.004 Msolar,respectively. Comparison of our new systemic velocity determination,γ=-12.03+/-0.04 km s-1, with the earlier one of Kondo,γ=-11.61+/-0.30 km s-1, shows no evidence of any changein the systemic velocity in the 40 yr separating the two measurements, anull result that neither confirms nor contradicts the presence of thelow-mass third component proposed by Khaliullin & Khaliullina. Ourspectroscopic orbit of 12 Boo is more precise than that of Boden et al.but confirms their results about this system. Our analysis of HR 6169has produced a major improvement in its orbital elements. The minimummasses of the primary and secondary are 2.20+/-0.01 and 1.64+/-0.02Msolar, respectively. Although all three systems haveeccentric orbits, the six components of the systems are eitherpseudosynchronously rotating or very nearly so.

Precision Radial Velocities of Double-lined Spectroscopic Binaries with an Iodine Absorption Cell
A spectroscopic technique employing an iodine absorption cell(I2) to superimpose a reference spectrum onto a stellarspectrum is currently the most widely adopted approach to obtainprecision radial velocities of solar-type stars. It has been used todetect ~80 extrasolar planets out of ~130 known. Yet in its originalversion, it only allows us to measure precise radial velocities ofsingle stars. In this paper, we present a novel method employing anI2 absorption cell that enables us to accurately determineradial velocities of both components of double-lined binaries. Ourpreliminary results, based on the data from the Keck I telescope andHIRES spectrograph, demonstrate that 20-30 m s-1 radialvelocity precision can be routinely obtained for ``early'' type binaries(F3-F8). For later type binaries, the precision reaches ~10 ms-1. We discuss applications of the technique to stellarastronomy and searches for extrasolar planets in binary systems. Inparticular, we combine the interferometric data collected with thePalomar Testbed Interferometer with our preliminary precision velocitiesof the spectroscopic double-lined binary HD 4676 to demonstrate thatwith such a combination one can routinely obtain masses of the binarycomponents accurate at least at the level of 1.0%.

CHARM2: An updated Catalog of High Angular Resolution Measurements
We present an update of the Catalog of High Angular ResolutionMeasurements (CHARM, Richichi & Percheron \cite{CHARM}, A&A,386, 492), which includes results available until July 2004. CHARM2 is acompilation of direct measurements by high angular resolution methods,as well as indirect estimates of stellar diameters. Its main goal is toprovide a reference list of sources which can be used for calibrationand verification observations with long-baseline optical and near-IRinterferometers. Single and binary stars are included, as are complexobjects from circumstellar shells to extragalactic sources. The presentupdate provides an increase of almost a factor of two over the previousedition. Additionally, it includes several corrections and improvements,as well as a cross-check with the valuable public release observationsof the ESO Very Large Telescope Interferometer (VLTI). A total of 8231entries for 3238 unique sources are now present in CHARM2. Thisrepresents an increase of a factor of 3.4 and 2.0, respectively, overthe contents of the previous version of CHARM.The catalog is only available in electronic form at the CDS viaanonymous ftp to cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (130.79.128.5) or via http://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/cgi-bin/qcat?J/A+A/431/773

The Visual Orbits of the Spectroscopic Binaries HD 6118 and HD 27483 from the Palomar Testbed Interferometer
We present optical interferometric observations of two double-linedspectroscopic binaries, HD 6118 and HD 27483, taken with the PalomarTestbed Interferometer (PTI) in the K band. HD 6118 is one of the mosteccentric spectroscopic binaries, and HD 27483 is a spectroscopic binaryin the Hyades open cluster. The data collected with PTI in 2001-2002allow us to determine astrometric orbits, which, when combined with theradial velocity measurements, determine all orbital parameters of thesystems. The masses of the components are 2.65+/-0.27 and2.36+/-0.24Msolar for HD 6118 and 1.38+/-0.13 and1.39+/-0.13Msolar for HD 27483. The apparent semimajor axisof HD 27483 is only 1.2 mas, making it the closest binary successfullyobserved with an optical interferometer.

The Geneva-Copenhagen survey of the Solar neighbourhood. Ages, metallicities, and kinematic properties of ˜14 000 F and G dwarfs
We present and discuss new determinations of metallicity, rotation, age,kinematics, and Galactic orbits for a complete, magnitude-limited, andkinematically unbiased sample of 16 682 nearby F and G dwarf stars. Our˜63 000 new, accurate radial-velocity observations for nearly 13 500stars allow identification of most of the binary stars in the sampleand, together with published uvbyβ photometry, Hipparcosparallaxes, Tycho-2 proper motions, and a few earlier radial velocities,complete the kinematic information for 14 139 stars. These high-qualityvelocity data are supplemented by effective temperatures andmetallicities newly derived from recent and/or revised calibrations. Theremaining stars either lack Hipparcos data or have fast rotation. Amajor effort has been devoted to the determination of new isochrone agesfor all stars for which this is possible. Particular attention has beengiven to a realistic treatment of statistical biases and errorestimates, as standard techniques tend to underestimate these effectsand introduce spurious features in the age distributions. Our ages agreewell with those by Edvardsson et al. (\cite{edv93}), despite severalastrophysical and computational improvements since then. We demonstrate,however, how strong observational and theoretical biases cause thedistribution of the observed ages to be very different from that of thetrue age distribution of the sample. Among the many basic relations ofthe Galactic disk that can be reinvestigated from the data presentedhere, we revisit the metallicity distribution of the G dwarfs and theage-metallicity, age-velocity, and metallicity-velocity relations of theSolar neighbourhood. Our first results confirm the lack of metal-poor Gdwarfs relative to closed-box model predictions (the ``G dwarfproblem''), the existence of radial metallicity gradients in the disk,the small change in mean metallicity of the thin disk since itsformation and the substantial scatter in metallicity at all ages, andthe continuing kinematic heating of the thin disk with an efficiencyconsistent with that expected for a combination of spiral arms and giantmolecular clouds. Distinct features in the distribution of the Vcomponent of the space motion are extended in age and metallicity,corresponding to the effects of stochastic spiral waves rather thanclassical moving groups, and may complicate the identification ofthick-disk stars from kinematic criteria. More advanced analyses of thisrich material will require careful simulations of the selection criteriafor the sample and the distribution of observational errors.Based on observations made with the Danish 1.5-m telescope at ESO, LaSilla, Chile, and with the Swiss 1-m telescope at Observatoire deHaute-Provence, France.Complete Tables 1 and 2 are only available in electronic form at the CDSvia anonymous ftp to cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (130.79.128.5) or viahttp://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/cgi-bin/qcat?J/A+A/418/989

The Nature of Overluminous F Stars Observed in a Radial-Velocity Survey
We have conducted a radial-velocity survey of bright (V<9),overluminous, F stars within 80 pc. The criterion of overluminosity isΔMc0=Mc0-MV>=0.5,where MV is the absolute magnitude based on the Hipparcosparallax and Mc0 is the absolute magnitude fromuvby photometry. For F stars, overluminosity at a level ofΔMc0>0.15 has been argued to beindicative of the presence of a bright companion, so many of theoverluminous ``single'' F stars are expected to be, in fact, binarieswith comparably bright components. Therefore, the main goals of thesurvey have been to gain insight into the nature of overluminous F starsand to test specifically the hypothesis of the duplicity of overluminousF stars by searching for previously unrecognized binary stars amongthem. Other goals of this project included the determination, whereverpossible, of the orbits of the binaries discovered as a result of thesurvey and comparing the properties of the binaries with those of thevisually single stars with constant radial velocity. The program listcomprised 111 stars that appear in the Hipparcos catalog as single, plusseven members of multiple systems whose components have individualentries in the catalog.Of the total of 118 stars selected, the radial velocities of 77 havebeen measured with the Cambridge CORAVEL in the present survey. Amongthe remainder, six have not allowed us to determine their radialvelocities because of the weakness or lack of a ``dip'' in theirradial-velocity traces, and one was optically inaccessible to thetelescope. All the rest proved to be sufficiently well known alreadyeither as binary or as constant-radial-velocity (CRV) stars. The surveydiscovered 25 new binary systems, not counting two that were notgenerally known as such but were already under observation by R. F. G.and two that were discovered by Hipparcos to show eclipses but had neverbeen recognized as SBs. With the previously known binaries, there is atotal of 61 definite plus three probable binaries out of a total of 111stars upon which we can adjudicate-a binary fraction of ~58%, justdouble the ~29% found in a sample of randomly selected F stars byNordström et al. (1997). Of the binaries, 52 are SB2 and 12 areSB1. Orbits (some of them still rather preliminary) have been determinedfor the first time for 28 binaries, 21 of which are SB2.Comparison of the CRV stars (a total of 47) with the SB2 binaries hasshown that the two groups have different kinematics. The differenceimplies that on average the CRV stars are 3 to 4 Gyr older than theSB2s, although several of the CRVs appear to be very young. At the sametime the SB2 stars turn out to have about the same kinematics, hence thesame average age, as both binary and normal single F stars from acontrol sample drawn from the Hipparcos catalog. The much older age ofthe bulk of the overluminous CRV F stars may be indicative of anomalousstellar evolution that results in anomalously long main-sequencelifetimes for those stars. The SB1 stars appear to be closer to the CRVsthan to the SB2s and are probably also very old. The properties of the``no-dip'' stars suggest very young age; some of the stars are probablypre-main-sequence (PMS). A few PMS candidates have been identified alsoamong the CRV stars. Thus, overluminous F stars comprising our sampleappear to consist of three distinct groups: mostly young SB2 binarieswith comparably bright components, mostly very old CRV and SB1 stars,and very young no-dip stars.

Improved Astrometry and Photometry for the Luyten Catalog. II. Faint Stars and the Revised Catalog
We complete construction of a catalog containing improved astrometry andnew optical/infrared photometry for the vast majority of NLTT starslying in the overlap of regions covered by POSS I and by the secondincremental Two Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS) release, approximately 44%of the sky. The epoch 2000 positions are typically accurate to 130 mas,the proper motions to 5.5 mas yr-1, and the V-J colors to0.25 mag. Relative proper motions of binary components are measured to 3mas yr-1. The false-identification rate is ~1% for11<~V<~18 and substantially less at brighter magnitudes. Theseimprovements permit the construction of a reduced proper-motion diagramthat, for the first time, allows one to classify NLTT stars intomain-sequence (MS) stars, subdwarfs (SDs), and white dwarfs (WDs). We inturn use this diagram to analyze the properties of both our catalog andthe NLTT catalog on which it is based. In sharp contrast to popularbelief, we find that NLTT incompleteness in the plane is almostcompletely concentrated in MS stars, and that SDs and WDs are detectedalmost uniformly over the sky δ>-33deg. Our catalogwill therefore provide a powerful tool to probe these populationsstatistically, as well as to reliably identify individual SDs and WDs.

Contributions to the Nearby Stars (NStars) Project: Spectroscopy of Stars Earlier than M0 within 40 Parsecs: The Northern Sample. I.
We have embarked on a project, under the aegis of the Nearby Stars(NStars)/Space Interferometry Mission Preparatory Science Program, toobtain spectra, spectral types, and, where feasible, basic physicalparameters for the 3600 dwarf and giant stars earlier than M0 within 40pc of the Sun. In this paper, we report on the results of this projectfor the first 664 stars in the northern hemisphere. These resultsinclude precise, homogeneous spectral types, basic physical parameters(including the effective temperature, surface gravity, and overallmetallicity [M/H]), and measures of the chromospheric activity of ourprogram stars. Observed and derived data presented in this paper arealso available on the project's Web site.

Multiplicity among solar-type stars. III. Statistical properties of the F7-K binaries with periods up to 10 years
Two CORAVEL radial velocity surveys - one among stars in the solarneighbourhood, the other in the Pleiades and in Praesepe - are merged toderive the statistical properties of main-sequence binaries withspectral types F7 to K and with periods up to 10 years. A sample of 89spectroscopic orbits was finally obtained. Among them, 52 relate to afree-of-bias selection of 405 stars (240 field stars and 165 clusterstars). The statistics corrected for selection effects yield thefollowing results: (1) No discrepancy is found between the binariesamong field stars and the binaries in open cluster. The distributions ofmass ratios, of periods, the period-eccentricity diagram and the binaryfrequencies are all within the same error intervals. (2) Thedistribution of mass ratios presents two maxima: a broad peak from q ~0.2 to q ~ 0.7, and a sharp peak for q > 0.8 (twins). Both arepresent among the early-type as well as among the late-type part of thesample, indicating a scale-free formation process. The peak for q >0.8 gradually decreases when long-period binaries are considered.Whatever their periods, the twins have eccentricities significantlylower than the other binaries, confirming a difference in the formationprocesses. Twins could be generated by in situ formation followed byaccretion from a gaseous envelope, whereas binaries with intermediatemass ratios could be formed at wide separations, but they are madecloser by migration led by interactions with a circumbinary disk. (3)The frequency of binaries with P<10 years is about 14%. (4) About0.3% of binaries are expected to appear as false positives in a planetsearch. Therefore, the frequency of planetary systems among stars ispresently 7+4-2%. The extension of thedistribution of mass ratios in the planetary range would result in avery sharp and very high peak, well separated from the binary stars withlow mass ratios. Based on photoelectric radial-velocity measurementscollected at Haute-Provence observatory and on observations made withthe ESA Hipparcos astrometry satellite.

Kinematics of Hipparcos Visual Binaries. II. Stars with Ground-Based Orbital Solutions
This paper continues kinematical investigations of the Hipparcos visualbinaries with known orbits. A sample, consisting of 804 binary systemswith orbital elements determined from ground-based observations, isselected. The mean relative error of their parallaxes is about 12% andthe mean relative error of proper motions is about 4%. However, even 41%of the sample stars lack radial velocity measurements. The computedGalactic velocity components and other kinematical parameters are usedto divide the stars with known radial velocities into kinematical agegroups. The majority (92%) of binaries from the sample are thin diskstars, 7.6% have thick disk kinematics and only two binaries have halokinematics. Among them, the long-period variable Mira Ceti has a verydiscordant {Hipparcos} and ground-based parallax values. From the wholesample, 60 stars are ascribed to the thick disk and halo population.There is an urgent need to increase the number of the identified halobinaries with known orbits and substantially improve the situation withradial velocity data for stars with known orbits.

CHARM: A Catalog of High Angular Resolution Measurements
The Catalog of High Angular Resolution Measurements (CHARM) includesmost of the measurements obtained by the techniques of lunaroccultations and long-baseline interferometry at visual and infraredwavelengths, which have appeared in the literature or have otherwisebeen made public until mid-2001. A total of 2432 measurements of 1625sources are included, along with extensive auxiliary information. Inparticular, visual and infrared photometry is included for almost allthe sources. This has been partly extracted from currently availablecatalogs, and partly obtained specifically for CHARM. The main aim is toprovide a compilation of sources which could be used as calibrators orfor science verification purposes by the new generation of largeground-based facilities such as the ESO Very Large Interferometer andthe Keck Interferometer. The Catalog is available in electronic form atthe CDS via anonymous ftp to cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (130.79.128.5) or viahttp://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/cgi-bin/qcat?J/A+A/386/492, and from theauthors on CD-Rom.

Optical Interferometry
The field of optical and infrared (IR) interferometry has seen rapidtechnical and scientific progress over the past few years. A number ofinstruments capable of precise visibility measurements have been built,and closure-phase imaging with multitelescope arrays has beendemonstrated. Astronomical results from these instruments includemeasurements of stellar diameters and their wavelength dependence, limbdarkening, stellar surface structure, and distances of Cepheids and ofNova Cygni 1992. Precise stellar masses have been obtained frominterferometric observations of spectroscopic binaries, andcircumstellar disks and shells have been resolved. Searches forsubstellar companions and extrasolar planets with interferometricastrometry will begin soon. Nulling interferometry will enable studiesof exozodiacal disks from the ground and the detection andcharacterization of terrestrial extrasolar planets from space. Thesedevelopments are reviewed, as well as progress in some key technologicalareas.

Catalogue of Apparent Diameters and Absolute Radii of Stars (CADARS) - Third edition - Comments and statistics
The Catalogue, available at the Centre de Données Stellaires deStrasbourg, consists of 13 573 records concerning the results obtainedfrom different methods for 7778 stars, reported in the literature. Thefollowing data are listed for each star: identifications, apparentmagnitude, spectral type, apparent diameter in arcsec, absolute radiusin solar units, method of determination, reference, remarks. Commentsand statistics obtained from CADARS are given. The Catalogue isavailable in electronic form at the CDS via anonymous ftp tocdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (130.79.128.5) or viahttp://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/cgi-bin/qcar?J/A+A/367/521

The proper motions of fundamental stars. I. 1535 stars from the Basic FK5
A direct combination of the positions given in the HIPPARCOS cataloguewith astrometric ground-based catalogues having epochs later than 1939allows us to obtain new proper motions for the 1535 stars of the BasicFK5. The results are presented as the catalogue Proper Motions ofFundamental Stars (PMFS), Part I. The median precision of the propermotions is 0.5 mas/year for mu alpha cos delta and 0.7mas/year for mu delta . The non-linear motions of thephotocentres of a few hundred astrometric binaries are separated intotheir linear and elliptic motions. Since the PMFS proper motions do notinclude the information given by the proper motions from othercatalogues (HIPPARCOS, FK5, FK6, etc.) this catalogue can be used as anindependent source of the proper motions of the fundamental stars.Catalogue (Table 3) is only available at the CDS via anonymous ftp tocdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (130.79.128.5) or viahttp://cdsweb.u-strastg.fr/cgi-bin/qcat?J/A+A/365/222

The Star Clusters in the Starburst Irregular Galaxy NGC 1569
We examine star clusters in the irregular starburst galaxy NGC 1569 fromHubble Space Telescope images taken with filters F336W, F555W, andF814W. In addition to the two super-star clusters that are well known,we identify 45 other clusters that are compact but resolved. IntegratedUVI colors of the clusters span a large range, and comparison withcoeval evolutionary models suggests that the ages range from 2-3 Myr to1 Gyr. Most of the clusters have colors consistent with ages of <=30Myr, placing them at the end of the recent burst of star formation. Weexamine the radial surface brightness profiles of four of the clustersand fit King models to three of them. The colors of the clusters areapproximately constant with radius. The four clusters have half-lightradii and core radii that are in the range observed in present-dayglobular clusters in our Galaxy. However, they are somewhat lessconcentrated than the average globular cluster. The two well-knownsuper-star clusters have luminosities (and one has a known mass) thatare comparable to those of typical globular clusters. The other twoclusters and likely numerous others in the sample are similar to a smallglobular cluster and to R136 in the LMC. The conditions that producedthe recent starburst, therefore, have also been those necessary forproducing compact bright star clusters. We examine resolved stars in theouter parts of the super-star clusters. We find that cluster A containsmany bright blue stars. Some of the blue stars are bright enough to beevolved massive stars. There is also a small population of redsupergiants. Components A1 and A2 within cluster A have similar colors,and a two-dimensional color map does not offer evidence that onecomponent is dominated by red supergiants and the other is not. Theapparent contradiction of the presence of red supergiants withWolf-Rayet stars is allowed by the evolution of massive stars or mayinstead be due to an age spread within cluster A. The stars that weresolve around cluster B, on the other hand, contain a small populationof more normal blue massive stars and a large population of redsupergiants. The presence of the red supergiants is consistent with theview that cluster B is in its red supergiant phase. The presence of thered supergiant stars in clusters A and B is also verified innear-infrared spectra, where we find strong stellar CO absorptionfeatures. The various age indicators are consistent with a picture inwhich cluster B is of order 10-20 Myr old, the older stars in cluster Aare >=7 Myr old. The timescale to form the holes seen in Hα andH I is comparable to the age of cluster B. Based on observations withthe NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, obtained at the Space TelescopeScience Institute, which is operated by the Association of Universitiesfor Research in Astronomy, Inc., under NASA contract NAS 5-26555.

Moderate-Resolution Near-Infrared Spectroscopy of Cool Stars: A New K-Band Library
I present an atlas of near-infrared K-band spectra of 31 late-typegiants and supergiants and two carbon stars. The spectra were obtainedat resolving powers of 830 and 2000, and have a signal-to-noise ratio>~100. These data are complemented with results from similar existinglibraries in both K and H band, and they are used to identify varioustools useful for stellar population studies at moderate resolution. Ifocus on several of the most prominent absorption features and (1)investigate the effects of spectral resolution on measurements of theirequivalent width (EW), (2) examine the variations with stellarparameters of the EWs, and (3) construct composite indices as indicatorsof stellar parameters and of the contribution from excess continuumsources commonly found in star-forming and AGN galaxies. Among thefeatures considered, the 12CO (2,0) and 12CO (6,3)bandheads together with the Si I 1.59 μm feature, first proposed byOliva, Origlia, and coworkers, constitute the best diagnostic set forstellar spectral classification and for constraining the excesscontinuum emission. The Ca I 2.26 μm and Mg I 2.28 μm featuresoffer alternatives in the K band to the 12CO (6,3) bandheadand Si I feature.

On the origin of binaries with twin components
The existence of a statistically significant excess of dwarf binarieswith mass ratios from 0.95 to 1, as first noted by Lucy & Ricco (?),is confirmed by modern data. Excess of such binaries, called twins, isfound only for periods shorter than 40 days, and in the 2-30 days periodrange they constitute 10-20% of the total binary population. Twins musthave been formed by a special mechanism. It cannot be a mass transfer incontact pre-main-sequence binaries, fission is also unlikely. As shownby Bate (2000), accretion onto a close binary shifts mass ratio towards1, so twins may originate from binaries that became close while stillsurrounded by massive envelopes. Many twins are members ofhigher-multiplicity systems and/or clusters, which probably explains anearly formation of a close binary by stellar dynamics.

The Visual Orbit of 64 Piscium
We report on the determination of the visual orbit of the double-linedspectroscopic binary system 64 Piscium with data obtained by the PalomarTestbed Interferometer in 1997 and 1998. 64 Psc is a nearly equal-massdouble-lined binary system whose spectroscopic orbit is well known. Wehave estimated the visual orbit of 64 Psc from our interferometricvisibility data. Our 64 Psc orbit is in good agreement with thespectroscopic results, and the physical parameters implied by a combinedfit to our interferometric visibility data and radial velocity data ofDuquennoy & Mayor result in precise component masses that agree wellwith their spectral type identifications. In particular, the orbitalparallax of the system is determined to be 43.29+/-0.46 mas, and massesof the two components are determined to be 1.223+/-0.021Msolar and 1.170+/-0.018 Msolar, respectively.Nadal et al. put forward arguments of temporal variability in some ofthe orbital elements of 64 Psc, presumably explained by an undetectedcomponent in the system. While our visibility data do not favor theNadal temporal variability inference, neither is it definitive inexcluding it. Consequently we have performed both high dynamic-rangenear-infrared imaging and spectroscopy of potential additionalcompanions to the 64 Psc system. Our imaging and spectroscopic data donot support the conjecture of an additional component to 64 Psc, but wedid identify a faint object with unusual red colors and spectra.

On the Nature of Low-Mass Companions to Solar-like Stars
Low-mass companions (mass <70 Jupiter masses) to solar-like stars arecompared statistically to stellar-mass secondaries in binaries ofsimilar primary spectral types and orbital scales, based largely on thesurvey of Duquennoy & Mayor. To within the limits imposed byobservational constraints, the orbital properties of these low-masscompanions (LMCs) are statistically indistinguishable from those ofbinary systems. In both populations, orbital periods (P), semimajor axes(a), angular momenta (L), and binding energies (U) are all distributedapproximately as f(x)~x-1 for x=P,a,L,U. In both populations,eccentricities are broadly distributed approximately asf(e)~e-0.5, with no significant correlation with otherorbital elements, apart from a marked circularization of close orbits.The distribution of LMC masses is approximately a power law with indexbetween -1 and -2 there is ambiguous evidence in the data for a massspectrum bimodality about approximately 10 Jupiter masses. In bothpopulations the joint distributions of mass with all orbital propertiesare largely scattergrams, with no statistically significantcorrelations. The overall statistical properties of LMCs are suggestiveof a common formation mechanism with binary star systems. The similarform of the distributions of all orbital dynamic quantities in bothpopulations may result from postformation dissipative orbital decay.

Photometric Measurements of the Fields of More than 700 Nearby Stars
In preparation for optical/IR interferometric searches for substellarcompanions of nearby stars, we undertook to characterize the fields ofall nearby stars visible from the Northern Hemisphere to determinesuitable companions for interferometric phase referencing. Because theKeck Interferometer in particular will be able to phase-reference oncompanions within the isoplanatic patch (30") to about 17th magnitude atK, we took images at V, r, and i that were deep enough to determine iffield stars were present to this magnitude around nearby stars using aspot-coated CCD. We report on 733 fields containing 10,629 measurementsin up to three filters (Gunn i, r and Johnson V) of nearby stars down toabout 13th magnitude at V.

A Second Catalog of Orbiting Astronomical Observatory 2 Filter Photometry: Ultraviolet Photometry of 614 Stars
Ultraviolet photometry from the Wisconsin Experiment Package on theOrbiting Astronomical Observatory 2 (OAO 2) is presented for 614 stars.Previously unpublished magnitudes from 12 filter bandpasses withwavelengths ranging from 1330 to 4250 Å have been placed on thewhite dwarf model atmosphere absolute flux scale. The fluxes wereconverted to magnitudes using V=0 for F(V)=3.46x10^-9 ergs cm^-2 s^-1Å^-1, or m_lambda=-2.5logF_lambda-21.15. This second catalogeffectively doubles the amount of OAO 2 photometry available in theliterature and includes many objects too bright to be observed withmodern space observatories.

The ROSAT all-sky survey catalogue of the nearby stars
We present X-ray data for all entries of the Third Catalogue of NearbyStars \cite[(Gliese & Jahreiss 1991)]{gli91} that have been detectedas X-ray sources in the ROSAT all-sky survey. The catalogue contains1252 entries yielding an average detection rate of 32.9 percent. Inaddition to count rates, source detection parameters, hardness ratios,and X-ray fluxes we also list X-ray luminosities derived from Hipparcosparallaxes. Catalogue also available at CDS via anonymous ftp tocdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (130.79.128.5) or viahttp://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/Abstract.html

Kinematics and Metallicity of Stars in the Solar Region
Several samples of nearby stars with the most accurate astrometric andphotometric parameters are searched for clues to their evolutionaryhistory. The main samples are (1) the main-sequence stars with b - ybetween 0.29 and 0.59 mag (F3 to K1) in the Yale parallax catalog, (2) agroup of high-velocity subgiants studied spectroscopically by Ryan &Lambert, and (3) high-velocity main-sequence stars in the extensiveinvestigation by Norris, Bessel, & Pickles. The major conclusionsare as follows: (1) The oldest stars (halo), t >= 10-12 Gyr, haveV-velocities (in the direction of Galactic rotation and referred to theSun) in the range from about -50 to -800 km s^-1 and have aheavy-element abundance [Fe/H] of less than about -0.8 dex. The agerange of these objects depends on our knowledge of globular clusterages, but if age is correlated with V-velocity, the youngest may be M22and M28 (V ~ -50 km s^-1) and the oldest NGC 3201 (V ~ -500 km s^-1) andassorted field stars. (2) The old disk population covers the large agerange from about 2 Gyr (Hyades, NGC 752) to 10 or 12 Gyr (Arcturusgroup, 47 Tuc), but the lag (V) velocity is restricted to less thanabout 120 km s^-1 and [Fe/H] >= -0.8 or -0.9 dex. The [Fe/H] ~ -0.8dex division between halo and old disk, near t ~ 10-12 Gyr, is marked bya change in the character of the CN index (C_m) and of the blanketingparameter K of the DDO photometry. (3) The young disk population, t <2 Gyr, is confined exclusively to a well-defined area of the (U, V)velocity plane. The age separating young and old disk stars is also thatseparating giant evolution of the Hyades (near main-sequence luminosity)and M67 (degenerate helium cores and a large luminosity rise) kinds. Thetwo disk populations are also separated by such indexes as the g-indexof Geveva photometry. There appears to be no obvious need to invokeexogeneous influences to understand the motion and heavy-elementabundance distributions of the best-observed stars near the Sun.Individual stars of special interest include the parallax star HD 55575,which may be an equal-component binary, and the high-velocity star HD220127, with a well-determined space velocity near 1000 km s^-1.

Statistical dynamics of solar-like binaries
A statistical study has been made of dynamic properties of nearbybinaries with solar-like primaries, based largely on the survey ofDuquennoy and Mayor (1991). Emphasis is placed on those quantitieslikely to serve as observational constraints on binary star formation:mass ratios, semimajor axes, orbital angular momenta, and bindingenergies. Nonparametric statistical models have been employed to deducestatistical distributions of these quantities for those classes ofbinaries for which individual values cannot be inferred from theobservations. There is little correlation observed between semimajoraxes and mass ratios or eccentricities, aside from a slight tendency forwide binaries to have low-mass companions and for circularization ofclose binary orbits. The mass ratio distribution for all binaries in theprogram is significantly weighted toward low values, with a possiblesecondary maximum near unity. The distributions of semimajor axes,orbital periods, orbital angular momenta, and binding energies all showapproximately the same nearly featureless, monotonically decreasing,scale-free form spanning several orders of magnitude; there is noevidence for the presence of more than one population of binaries or ofmultiple formation mechanisms. The specific angular momenta of binarysystems are approximately two orders of magnitude less than those of thesmallest dense cloud cores from which they presumably form.

The ROSAT all-sky survey catalogue of optically bright main-sequence stars and subgiant stars
We present X-ray data for all main-sequence and subgiant stars ofspectral types A, F, G, and K and luminosity classes IV and V listed inthe Bright Star Catalogue that have been detected as X-ray sources inthe ROSAT all-sky survey; several stars without luminosity class arealso included. The catalogue contains 980 entries yielding an averagedetection rate of 32 percent. In addition to count rates, sourcedetection parameters, hardness ratios, and X-ray fluxes we also listX-ray luminosities derived from Hipparcos parallaxes. The catalogue isalso available in electronic form via anonymous ftp tocdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (130.79.128.5) or viahttp://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/Abstract.html

The Tokyo PMC catalog 90-93: Catalog of positions of 6649 stars observed in 1990 through 1993 with Tokyo photoelectric meridian circle
The sixth annual catalog of the Tokyo Photoelectric Meridian Circle(PMC) is presented for 6649 stars which were observed at least two timesin January 1990 through March 1993. The mean positions of the starsobserved are given in the catalog at the corresponding mean epochs ofobservations of individual stars. The coordinates of the catalog arebased on the FK5 system, and referred to the equinox and equator ofJ2000.0. The mean local deviations of the observed positions from theFK5 catalog positions are constructed for the basic FK5 stars to comparewith those of the Tokyo PMC Catalog 89 and preliminary Hipparcos resultsof H30.

Detecting faint secondaries of spectroscopic binaries: HD 101177B and 149414A
We have observed HD 101177B and 149414A, two known single-linedbinaries, and directly measured the radial velocities of theirsecondaries, enabling us to derive the mass ratios of the two systems.Using high signal-to-noise ratio spectra obtained mostly with theWilliam Herschel Telescope, and a new algorithm to analyse compositespectra, TODCOR, we show that the mass ratios of HD 101177B and 149414Aare 0.48+/-0.03 and 0.57+/-0.02, respectively. These are two of thelowest mass ratios ever measured around normal G or K dwarf stars. Thesetwo systems demonstrate the potential of the present approach, which canturn many of the known single-lined binaries into double-lined systems.Such work has important implications for the study of the mass-ratiodistribution of many samples of binaries.

Intrinsic Energy Distribution in Stellar Spectra in the Wavelength Interval 320--760 NM
The intrinsic energy distributions in the interval 320--760 nm ofspectral types B5--G8 of luminosity V, F0--F5 of luminosity IV andG8--M2 of luminosity III, determined by authors, are intercompared withthe catalogue of the mean energy distribution data published bySviderskiene (1988).

Reality Tests of Superclusters in the Young Disk Population
Abstract image available at:http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-bib_query?1995AJ....110.2862E&db_key=AST

Vitesses radiales. Catalogue WEB: Wilson Evans Batten. Subtittle: Radial velocities: The Wilson-Evans-Batten catalogue.
We give a common version of the two catalogues of Mean Radial Velocitiesby Wilson (1963) and Evans (1978) to which we have added the catalogueof spectroscopic binary systems (Batten et al. 1989). For each star,when possible, we give: 1) an acronym to enter SIMBAD (Set ofIdentifications Measurements and Bibliography for Astronomical Data) ofthe CDS (Centre de Donnees Astronomiques de Strasbourg). 2) the numberHIC of the HIPPARCOS catalogue (Turon 1992). 3) the CCDM number(Catalogue des Composantes des etoiles Doubles et Multiples) byDommanget & Nys (1994). For the cluster stars, a precise study hasbeen done, on the identificator numbers. Numerous remarks point out theproblems we have had to deal with.

Submit a new article


Related links

  • - No Links Found -
Submit a new link


Member of following groups:


Observation and Astrometry data

Constellation:Poissons
Right ascension:00h48m58.70s
Declination:+16°56'26.0"
Apparent magnitude:5.07
Distance:23.923 parsecs
Proper motion RA:-1.9
Proper motion Dec:-200.6
B-T magnitude:5.674
V-T magnitude:5.12

Catalogs and designations:
Proper Names   (Edit)
Flamsteed64 Psc
HD 1989HD 4676
TYCHO-2 2000TYC 1188-1686-1
USNO-A2.0USNO-A2 1050-00234374
BSC 1991HR 225
HIPHIP 3810

→ Request more catalogs and designations from VizieR