Speckle interferometry of the Hyades spectroscopic binary 51 Tauri.

The Hyades spectroscopic binary 51 Tauri is resolved by means of speckle interferometry with the 4 m Mayall telescope. Angular separations determined from speckle observations are combined with linear separations determined from published spectroscopic elements. This permits the calculation of parallax as a function of component masses. Proper motions indicate that the distance of 51 Tauri is 1.20 + 0.07 times the mean cluster distance. If normal masses are assumed, the cluster distance modulus is found to be 3.25 + 0.14. A separate Hyades mass-luminosity relation yields a smaller distance modulus of 2.99 + 0.13. This result supports recent discussions of the distance and mass-luminosity relation for the Hyades. Subject headings: clusters: open - interferometry - stars: binaries - stars: individual - stars: visual multiples