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CHARACTERIZATION of the COMPANION μ HER

Accepted version
Peer-reviewed

Type

Article

Change log

Authors

Roberts, LC 
Mason, BD 
Aguilar, J 
Carson, J 

Abstract

jats:titleABSTRACT</jats:title> jats:p jats:italicμ</jats:italic> Her is a nearby quadruple system with a G-subgiant primary and several low-mass companions arranged in a 2+2 architecture. While the BC components have been well characterized, the Ab component has been detected astrometrically and with direct imaging but there has been some confusion over its nature, in particular, whether the companion is stellar or substellar. Using near-infrared spectroscopy, we are able to estimate the spectral type of the companion as an M4±1V star. In addition, we have measured the astrometry of the system for over a decade. We combined the astrometry with archival radial velocity measurements to compute an orbit of the system. From the combined orbit, we are able to compute the mass sum of the system. Using the estimated mass of the primary, we estimate the mass of the secondary as 0.32 jats:inline-formula jats:tex-math

</jats:tex-math> <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" overflow="scroll"> mml:msub mml:mrow mml:miM</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> mml:mrow mml:mo⊙</mml:mo> </mml:mrow> </mml:msub> </mml:math> <jats:inline-graphic xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xlink:href="aj523684ieqn1.gif" xlink:type="simple" /> </jats:inline-formula>, which agrees with the estimated spectral type. Our computed orbit is preliminary due to the incomplete orbital phase coverage, but it should be sufficient to predict ephemerides over the next decade.</jats:p>

Description

Keywords

binaries: visual, instrumentation: adaptive optics, stars: individual (HD 161797), stars: solar-type

Journal Title

Astronomical Journal

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

0004-6256
1538-3881

Volume Title

151

Publisher

American Astronomical Society
Sponsorship
Science and Technology Facilities Council (ST/N000927/1)