A Charge-Coupled Device Photometric Study of South Hemispheric Contact Binary AE Phoenicis
Abstract
The complete charge-coupled device light curves in B, V, R, and I bands of the short-period binary system, AE Phe, are presented. It is found that the light curves of AE Phe belong to typical EW-type light variation. Photometric solutions were derived by using the 2003 version of the Wilson-Devinney code. It showed that AE Phe is a W-subtype shallow-contact system (f = 14.6%(±0.5%)) with a mass ratio of q = 2.5491(±0.0092). The temperature difference between the two components is 227 K. Analysis of the O - C curve suggests that the period of AE Phe shows a long-term continuous increase at a rate of dP/dt = +6.17(±0.44) × 10-8 days year-1. The long-term period increase, the marginal-contact configuration, and the astrophysical parameters of the binary system, all suggest that it is a shallow-contact binary undergoing a thermal relaxation oscillation evolving into a detached binary.
- Publication:
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The Astronomical Journal
- Pub Date:
- November 2009
- DOI:
- 10.1088/0004-6256/138/5/1465
- Bibcode:
- 2009AJ....138.1465H
- Keywords:
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- binaries: close;
- binaries: eclipsing;
- stars: evolution;
- stars: individual: AE Phe