Twenty Years of Timing SS 433
Abstract
We present observations of the optical ``moving lines'' in spectra of the Galactic relativistic jet source SS 433 spread over a 20 year baseline from 1979 to 1999. The redshift/blueshift of the lines reveal the apparent precession of the jet axis in SS 433, and we present a new determination of the precession parameters based on these data. We investigate the amplitude and nature of time- and phase-dependent deviations from the kinematic model for the jet precession, including an upper limit on any precessional period derivative of P<5×10-5. We also discuss the implications of these results for the origins of the relativistic jets in SS 433.
- Publication:
-
The Astrophysical Journal
- Pub Date:
- November 2001
- DOI:
- 10.1086/323380
- arXiv:
- arXiv:astro-ph/0107296
- Bibcode:
- 2001ApJ...561.1027E
- Keywords:
-
- Stars: Binaries: General;
- stars: individual (SS 433);
- Astrophysics
- E-Print:
- 21 pages, including 9 figures. To appear in the Astrophysical Journal