Interferometry and spectroscopy of beta Cen: a beta Cephei star in a binary system^*
Abstract
beta Cen is a bright beta Cephei variable and has long been suspected to be a binary. Here we report interferometric observations with the 3.9-m Anglo-Australian Telescope at a single epoch which show the star to be a binary with components separated by 15 milliarcsec and having approximately equal luminosities at 486 nm. We also present high-resolution spectra taken over five nights with the ESO CAT which show beta Cen to be a double-lined spectroscopic binary. We identify two pulsation frequencies in the primary. Further spectroscopic and interferometric studies of this double star should allow determination of its orbital parameters and component masses.
- Publication:
-
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
- Pub Date:
- January 1999
- DOI:
- 10.1046/j.1365-8711.1999.02068.x
- arXiv:
- arXiv:astro-ph/9809158
- Bibcode:
- 1999MNRAS.302..245R
- Keywords:
-
- TECHNIQUES: INTERFEROMETRIC;
- STARS: INDIVIDUAL: BETA CEN;
- STARS: VARIABLES: OTHER;
- Astrophysics
- E-Print:
- 8 pages, 12 postscript figure files, grouped into 8 figures. Accepted for Monthly Notices of RAS. Topmargin revised for US Letter or A4 paper