Stellar masses.
Abstract
Problems of determining the masses of eclipsing and visual binary stars from the observational data are considered, and some of the available results are presented. Difficulties and uncertainties involved in determining masses as well as absolute visual magnitudes or radii from spectrographic observations obtained at 20 A/mm or higher dispersion and photoelectric photometry are examined for the cases of detached main-sequence eclipsing binaries of types B6 to M, OB eclipsing systems, detached evolved eclipsing systems, resolved spectroscopic binaries, visual binaries and semidetached eclipsing systems. All available masses and radii known to any accuracy of 15% or better as well as color indices and scale-dependent properties (effective temperature, bolometric luminosity, absolute visual magnitude) are tabulated for each member of the above classes of eclipsing binaries, and V magnitudes, color indices, masses, visual magnitudes and scale-dependent properties (effective temperature, bolometric luminosity, radius) are provided for the 14 visual binary systems known with parallaxes greater than 0.9 arcsec, at least three independent parallax determinations within 10% of the mean value, and orbits of quality 1 or 2. It is noted that improved techniques in observation and analysis are expected to lessen some of the difficulties pointed out.
- Publication:
-
Annual Review of Astronomy and Astrophysics
- Pub Date:
- 1980
- DOI:
- 10.1146/annurev.aa.18.090180.000555
- Bibcode:
- 1980ARA&A..18..115P
- Keywords:
-
- Astronomical Catalogs;
- Eclipsing Binary Stars;
- Stellar Mass;
- Stellar Spectra;
- B Stars;
- Giant Stars;
- Main Sequence Stars;
- O Stars;
- Astrophysics