A&A 469, 633-637 (2007)
DOI: 10.1051/0004-6361:20077079
A. Kellerer1 - M. G. Petr-Gotzens1 - P. Kervella2 - V. Coudé du Foresto2
1 - European Southern Observatory, Karl-Schwarzschild-Str. 2,
85748 Garching, Germany
2 -
LESIA, Paris observatory, France
Received 10 January 2007 / Accepted 26 March 2007
Abstract
Context. The nearby (24 pc) triple stellar system
Velorum contains a close, eclipsing binary (Aa, Ab) discovered in 2000. Multiple systems provide an opportunity to determine the set of fundamental parameters (mass, luminosity, size, chemical composition) of coeval stars.
Aims. These parameters can be obtained with particular precision in the case of eclipsing binaries; so we exploited this potential for Velorum's components (Aa, Ab).
Methods. We have analysed interferometric observations of the close binary (Aa, Ab), obtained with the VINCI instrument and two VLTI siderostats. The measurements, which resolve the two components for the first time, are fitted onto the simple model of two uniformly bright, spherical stars.
Results. The observations suggest that Aa and Ab have larger diameters than expected for stars on the main sequence, hence they must be in a later evolutionary state.
Key words: binaries: eclipsing - stars: fundamental parameters - techniques: interferometric - binaries: visual - binaries: spectroscopic
One of the fifty brightest stars on the sky, with a visual magnitude of
mag
(Johnson et al. 1966),
Velorum (HD 74956), is a multiple stellar system
(e.g. Worley & Douglass 1997).
But in spite of its brightness and proximity,
mas
(Perryman et al. 1997), the issue of its
composition remains unresolved. As early as 1847, Herschel published his detection of
two faint visual companions,
Vel C and D, at a distance of
from
Vel A.
Another companion -
Vel B at the time separated by
from
Vel A - was later discovered by Innes (1895).
The separation
between components A and B
appeared surprising when measured by Hipparcos,
but it was explained later in terms of the orbit computation of Argyle et al.
(2002), which showed a highly elliptical orbit of component B with period
P=142 yr.
In 1979, preliminary results from speckle interferometry suggested yet another
component of the system (Tango et al. 1979). This apparent companion
was found at a separation of
and was taken to be a further component,
because the separation for star B at the time was believed to be
.
By now, however, it seems very likely that the speckle observations resolved
Vel B; while there is still an unexplained disagreement for the position angle, the measured small separation does fit well with the orbital solution found by Argyle et al.
(2002).
As noted in earlier publications (Hoffleit et al. 1991; Otero et al. 2000), the two
stars that are currently termed
Vel C and D were taken to be associated with the pair AB because of seemingly similar proper motion. However, we have not found the source of the proper motion measurement of C and D. Finally, the most luminous component, A, was recently recognized to be a close eclipsing binary with a period T=45.15 days
(Otero et al. 2000).
Since then,
Vel has been classified as a quintuple stellar system.
This investigation is focussed on the bright eclipsing binary, Vel A, but we also argue that
Vel C and D are not physically associated with
Vel A, B. While this makes
Vel a triple system, it takes little away from its challenging potential for obtaining important information on stellar evolution. As the inclination, i, of its orbital plane is constrained to be close to
,
an eclipsing binary system provides one of the best means to obtain, in terms of the Kepler laws of motion, fundamental stellar parameters.
In this research note, we present the first interferometric observations of the eclipsing binary Vel A, obtained with ESO's Very Large Telescope Interferometer (VLTI) and its "commissioning instrument'' VINCI. The measurements resolve this binary system for the first time. They are analysed here with non-linear least-square fitting methods. We combine our interferometric results with existing photometric and spectroscopic observations, estimate some orbital parameters of the
Vel A binary system, and discuss the stellar properties of the individual components based on the results.
In the following, a priori estimates of two orbital parameters for
the Vel (Aa-Ab) system are derived
from the time interval between the eclipses and their durations.
In subsection 2.2,
stellar properties are then estimated from existing photometric and spectroscopic observations.
As reported by Otero et al. (2000) and Otero (2006),
the fractional orbital period from the primary to the secondary eclipse equals
.
The secondary eclipse was observed by the Galileo satellite in 1989,
and its duration and depth were fairly precisely established as
days
and
(Otero 2006).
The same spacecraft observed the primary eclipse several years later, although
its measurements had become less accurate by then.
The approximate duration and depth of the primary eclipse are
days and
(Otero 2006).
The ratio of durations thus amounts to
.
As will be seen now, the eccentricity, e, and the angle,
,
between the semi-major axis and the line of sight, are constrained by
and
.
The angle
is similar to,
but must not be confused with, the more generally used parameter longitude of
periastron.
The relative motion of the two stars Vel Aa and Ab is taken to be
independent of external forces, and the vector,
,
from Ab to Aa
traces an elliptical orbit around Ab as a focal point.
Because the photometric light curve indicates a total eclipse for
Vel A,
the inclination of the orbit needs to be close to 90
.
To simplify the equations, we assume
,
and
Ab is taken to be the star with the higher surface brightness.
During the primary eclipse, which is deeper, Ab is thus eclipsed by Aa.
The angle
of
,
also called the true anomaly, is
zero at periastron and increases to
as the star
moves towards apastron.
The distance between the stars depends on
according to the relation:
![]() |
(1) |
![]() |
= | ![]() |
(2) |
= | ![]() |
(3) |
During the primary eclipse, when
the star with the lower surface brightness, Aa, covers Ab, the vector
is directed
towards Earth,
and
equals
.
During the secondary eclipse
equals
.
Thus:
![]() |
Figure 1:
The angle, ![]() ![]() ![]() |
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On the other hand,
can be further constrained through the ratio
of the eclipse durations as follows.
The eclipse durations are inversely proportional to the product
of radius and angular velocities during the eclipses.
They are thus proportional to
), and their ratio is:
![]() |
(7) |
Orbital motion in the triple system Vel(Aa+Ab+B) has recently been substantiated and analysed by Argyle et al. (2002). From position measurements
taken over a period of roughly 100 years, the authors inferred a
P = 142 yr orbit for component B and deduced a total dynamical mass
.
Photometric and spectroscopic measurements
of the individual components being few and partly inconclusive,
individual mass estimates are still difficult.
Hipparcos
measured an apparent magnitude of
for
Vel A
and
for
Vel B. With the transformations given
by Harmanec (1998), the approximate Johnson V magnitudes are
and
for
Vel A and
Vel B, respectively. With the colours of the
individual
Vel components being unknown, it needs to be noted that the uncertainty of
can be as high as
0.07 mag.
Since
Vel is close (d = 24.45 pc according to Hipparcos),
no interstellar reddening towards the source needs to be assumed, making
the absolute magnitudes are
for
Vel A and
for
Vel B.
Several authors have analysed spectra of Vel A
(e.g. Wright 2003; Alekseeva 1997; Levato 1972;
Gray & Garrison 1987). Many of their measurements have probably included
Vel B, but its flux is too low to add a
significant contribution.
From the metal line ratios and Balmer line equivalent widths, all
authors deduced either spectral type A0 V or A1 V.
This being most likely an average classification of the two stars, Aa and Ab,
one star should be slightly hotter and the other cooler than an A0/1V star.
No signatures of a double-lined spectroscopic binary were reported in
any of the spectroscopic observations.
Based on the spectrophotometric
information referred to above and under the assumption
that all Vel components are on the main sequence, it is
suggested that Aa and Ab have spectral type between A0V and A5V with
masses in the range 2.0-3.0
.
Furthermore, it follows
that B is an F-dwarf with mass about
.
This agrees reasonably well with the total dynamical
mass derived by Argyle et al. (2002).
An a priori estimate of the semi-major axis, a, of the Aa-Ab system is
next derived from the mass sum of Aa+Ab
(
)
and its orbital period (
days),
which leads to
m =
AU.
If they are main sequence early A stars,
Aa and Ab should have stellar diameters between
.
Finally, the depths of the eclipses can be used to constrain the
surface brightness ratio
of the two eclipsing components,
Vel Aa and Ab,
Table 1:
Details of the VINCI measurements. The uncertainty on the phase determination equals .
Every interferometric observation yields a fringe contrast or
squared visibility, V2,
whose variations are due not only to interferometric modulation, but also
to atmospheric and instrumental fluctuations. Accordingly
the raw squared visibilities need to be calibrated by a reference star.
To this purpose the observations of Vel were combined with observations of HD 63744,
a star of spectral type K0III, with an estimated diameter of
mas (Bordé et al. 2002).
The interferometric measurements were then analysed by use of the VINCI data
reduction pipeline, described in detail in Kervella et al. (2003).
Additionally, the calibrated V2 values need to be corrected for the
influence
of the nearby component Vel B.
The diffraction on the sky (through an individual VLTI 0.4 m siderostat) of
the fundamental fiber mode, which defines the interferometric field of view,
is equivalent to an Airy disk with a 1
38 diameter.
At the time of the observations,
Aa+Ab and B were separated by
.
Depending on atmospheric conditions, the interferograms are, therefore, contaminated by a random
and time-varying fraction of light, i.e. an incoherent
signal, from star B.
The visibilities must, accordingly, be multiplied by a factor:
![]() |
(9) |
![]() |
Figure 2: Corrected visibility values and standard deviation, compared to a model of two uniformly luminous, spherical stars. The parameter values of the best fit (solid line) are indicated in the upper left corner. |
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The 17 visibility measurements,
,
were fitted to a model of
a binary system of two uniformly bright spherical stellar discs,
observed at K-band with a filter of finite bandwith.
Five parameters of the binary model (stellar diameters Da,
Db, position angle of the ascending node
,
semi-major axis a,
eccentricity e) were adjusted for optimum fit to the observations.
The fitting procedure utilises a non-linear least-square algorithm
(Markwardt 2005) that
follows the direction of steepest descent of
in the parameter space,
being the reduced sum of squared deviations, i.e. the sum divided by the 13 degrees of freedom. To distinguish between local and absolute minima, the initial parameters were varied over the broad ranges of their potential values:
The semi major axis, a, was considered between
m and
m,
which corresponds to a total mass of Aa and Ab in the range
.
As specified in Sect. 2,
.
The stellar diameters were examined between 0.4 and 12.4 mas. These limits
refer respectively to the resolution limit of the interferometer and to
the Roche lobe volume diameter
.
The latter is approximated to better
than 1
by
mas (Eggleton 1983).
If one of the stars were to have a diameter larger than
,
the system
would be an
interacting binary and
the simple model of two spherical, uniformly bright stars would not apply.
The position angle of the ascending node
,
measured from North to
East, equals 0 if the projected
orbital plane and the North-South axes are aligned.
No previous measurement of
exists, and the angles
and
cannot be distinguished through interferometric measurements;
therefore,
is considered between 0 and
.
Varying the surface brightness ratio
over the
range specified in Eq. (8) has virtually no effect on
,
is so fixed at 1.46.
Likewise, the period of the binary
Vel (Aa-Ab) is
fixed at T=45.150 days. No apsidal motion of the eclipsing system
has been noted since its discovery in 2000.
The orbital inclination has been fixed at
,
although given the stellar diameters and separations deduced in Section 2.2,
the actual inclination could lie between
and
.
The best adjustment of the model to the
measured visibilities and their 1-sigma statistical errors is shown in Fig. 2.
It corresponds to a reduced mean squared deviation
and is obtained for the following parameter values:
The angle at primary eclipse is derived by the eccentricity as specified in Sect. 2.1:
.
The parameter uncertainties equal the statistical errors,
,
scaled by the reduced mean deviation of the model to the measurements, i.e.
.
The dependence of
on the stellar diameters is illustrated in Fig. 3.
The three visibilities measured on May 10, 2003 systematically deviate from the model fit (see Fig. 2).
There is no evident explanation for this deviation:
the data were obtained under good atmospheric conditions and the calibrator was the same as on the other nights.
If the three points are removed, the quality of the fit is improved,
,
but within the uncertainties, the resulting parameter values are unchanged:
It is apparent from the relatively high
that there are deviations in addition to the purely statistical errors. They might be due to an underestimation of the calibrator's size or might reflect some inaccuracies in the model for two uniformly bright, spherical stars. This is discussed in the subsequent section.
The computations could be slightly biased if the diameter of the calibrator star were substantially misestimated or if HD 63744 were a - still undiscovered - binary system.
On the other hand, HD 63744 is part of the catalog of interferometric calibrator stars
by Bordé et al. 2002, with its diameter (
) mas specified to
a precision of
.
Furthermore, it has been studied simultaneously with other calibrator stars in VINCI observations by one of the authors (P. Kervella). In these investigations the visibilities of HD 63744 equal those expected for a single star of
mas diameter.
Thus, HD 63744 appears to be a reliable calibrator.
Perhaps more relevant are the possible astrophysical complexities of Vel (Aa+Ab)
that are disregarded in the model of two uniformly bright, spherical stars. In particular, the rotational velocities of Aa and/or Ab are found to be high, with values of
150-180 km s-1 (Royer et al. 2002;
Hempel et al. 1998; Holweger et al. 1999),
which indicates that the two stars need not be uniformly luminous or circular.
Another possible over-simplification of our binary model is the constraint on the orbital inclination, i, being fixed at 90.
Given the fitted semi-major axis and stellar diameters, we note that the eclipse durations (
days and
days) are shorter than they should be in the case of
,
where the duration of the longer eclipse would have to exceed
days.
We conclude that i is
or
,
rather than
.
All observations were performed out of eclipse and, therefore, the visibility values are nearly unaffected by such a small variation in i. With substantially more visibility measurements and an increased number of fitted parameters, the issue on the precise orbital inclination might be addressed in more detail.
![]() |
Figure 3:
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
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The most important and remarkable result of our analysis is that the stellar diameters of Aa and Ab are found to equal
and
,
respectively.
This exceeds significantly, by factors
1.4-3, the values expected if Aa and Ab are main sequence stars.
If both diameters are constrained to lie below
,
the
best fit corresponds to
,
which is far beyond the present result and confirms that large diameters are required to account for the measured visibilities.
Seventeen VINCI visibility measurements of Vel (Aa+Ab) were fitted onto the
model of two uniformly bright, spherical stars. The adjustment to the measurements does not provide individual diameters compatible with A-type main sequence stars. The two stars thus appear to be in a more advanced evolutionary stage.
More data are needed however to confirm this result.
As the stellar evolution is fast during this period, more detailed knowledge of the system might also constrain the models more tightly. Precise photometric and spectroscopic observations ofthe eclipses should provide the separate intensities and chemical compositions of Aa and Ab and, hence, permit further inferences on the age and evolutionary state of
Vel.
Acknowledgements
We thank Rosanna Faraggiana for her extensive help, Sebastian Otero for providing the light curvesVel Aa, Ab, and Neil Reid for making the spectra of
Vel C, D available. The manuscript was improved by helpful comments from the referee.