Orbits and masses in the T Tauri system^*

¹ ZAH, Landessternwarte, Königstuhl, 69117 Heidelberg, Germany e-mail: r.koehler@lsw.uni-heidelberg.de
² Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie, Königstuhl 17, 69117 Heidelberg, Germany
³ Astrophysikalisches Institut Potsdam, An der Sternwarte 16, 14482 Potsdam, Germany
⁴ European Southern Observatory, Karl-Schwarzschild-Str. 2, 85748 Garching bei München, Germany

Received: 18 December 2007
Accepted: 18 February 2008

Abstract

Aims. We investigate the binary star T Tauri South, presenting the orbital parameters of the two components and their individual masses.

Methods. We combined astrometric positions from the literature with previously unpublished VLT observations. Model fits yield the orbital elements of T Tau Sa and Sb. We use T Tau N as an astrometric reference to derive an estimate for the mass ratio of Sa and Sb.

Results. Although most of the orbital parameters are not well constrained, it is unlikely that T Tau Sb is on a highly elliptical orbit or escaping from the system. The total mass of T Tau S is rather well constrained to . The mass ratio Sb:Sa is about 0.4, corresponding to individual masses of M_Sa = 2.1 ± 0.2 and M_Sb = 0.8 ± 0.1 . This confirms that the infrared companion in the T Tauri system is a pair of young stars obscured by circumstellar material.