Contents
Images
Upload your image
DSS Images Other Images
Related articles
Reaching the boundary between stellar kinematic groups and very wide binaries . II. ? Librae + KU Librae: a common proper motion system in Castor separated by 1.0 pc
Aims: I investigate the gravitational binding of a nearby commonproper motion system in the young Castor moving group (? ~ 200 Ma),which is formed by the bright quadruple star ? Lib (Zubenelgenubi)and the young solar analogue KU Lib. The system has an exceptionallywide angular separation of about 2.6 deg, which corresponds to aprojected physical separation of about 1.0 pc. Methods: Icompiled basic information on the system, compared its binding energywith those of other weakly bound systems in the field, and studied thephysical separations of resolved multiple systems in Castor. Results: KU Lib has roughly the same proper motion, parallacticdistance, radial velocity, and metallicity as the young hierarchicalquadruple system ? Lib. It also displays youth features. Theresemblance between these basic parameters and the relatively highestimated binding energy indicate that the five stars aregravitationally bound. KU Lib and ? Lib constitute the widestknown multiple system in all mass domains, and probably represent themost extreme example of young wide binaries on the point of beingdisrupted. Besides this, I make a comprehensive compilation of starcandidates in Castor, including new ones.
| Reaching the boundary between stellar kinematic groups and very wide binaries. The Washington double stars with the widest angular separations
Aims: I look for and characterise very wide binaries and multiplesystems with projected physical separations larger than s = 0.1 pc,which is generally believed to be a sharp upper limit to thedistribution of wide binary semimajor axes. Methods: Iinvestigated in detail 30 Washington double stars with angularseparations of ? > 1000 arcsec. I discarded 23 of them asprobably unbound systems based on discordant astrometry, photometry,spectral types, and radial velocities. The remaining seven systems weresubject to a comprehensive data compilation and derivation(multi-wavelength photometry, heliocentric distance, multiplicity, age,mass, metallicity, membership in a young kinematic group). Results: Of the seven very wide systems, six have projected physicalseparations greater than the hypothetical cutoff at s = 0.1 pc and fourhave separations s > 0.2 pc. Although there are two systems in youngkinematic groups (namely HD 136654 and BD+32 2572 in the HyadesSupercluster, and AU Mic and AT Mic AB in the ? Pictoris movinggroup), there is no clear prevalence of young systems (? < 1 Ga)among these very wide binaries. Finally, I compare the binding energiesof the seven systems with those of other weakly bound systems in thefield.Appendix A is only available in electronic form at http://www.aanda.org
| Contributions to the Nearby Stars (NStars) Project: Spectroscopy of Stars Earlier than M0 within 40 pc-The Southern Sample
We are obtaining spectra, spectral types, and basic physical parametersfor the nearly 3600 dwarf and giant stars earlier than M0 in theHipparcos catalog within 40 pc of the Sun. Here we report on resultsfor 1676 stars in the southern hemisphere observed at Cerro TololoInter-American Observatory and Steward Observatory. These resultsinclude new, precise, homogeneous spectral types, basic physicalparameters (including the effective temperature, surface gravity, andmetallicity [M/H]), and measures of the chromospheric activity of ourprogram stars. We include notes on astrophysically interesting stars inthis sample, the metallicity distribution of the solar neighborhood, anda table of solar analogs. We also demonstrate that the bimodal nature ofthe distribution of the chromospheric activity parameterlogR'HK depends strongly on the metallicity, andwe explore the nature of the ``low-metallicity'' chromosphericallyactive K-type dwarfs.
| Improved Astrometry and Photometry for the Luyten Catalog. II. Faint Stars and the Revised Catalog
We complete construction of a catalog containing improved astrometry andnew optical/infrared photometry for the vast majority of NLTT starslying in the overlap of regions covered by POSS I and by the secondincremental Two Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS) release, approximately 44%of the sky. The epoch 2000 positions are typically accurate to 130 mas,the proper motions to 5.5 mas yr-1, and the V-J colors to0.25 mag. Relative proper motions of binary components are measured to 3mas yr-1. The false-identification rate is ~1% for11<~V<~18 and substantially less at brighter magnitudes. Theseimprovements permit the construction of a reduced proper-motion diagramthat, for the first time, allows one to classify NLTT stars intomain-sequence (MS) stars, subdwarfs (SDs), and white dwarfs (WDs). We inturn use this diagram to analyze the properties of both our catalog andthe NLTT catalog on which it is based. In sharp contrast to popularbelief, we find that NLTT incompleteness in the plane is almostcompletely concentrated in MS stars, and that SDs and WDs are detectedalmost uniformly over the sky δ>-33deg. Our catalogwill therefore provide a powerful tool to probe these populationsstatistically, as well as to reliably identify individual SDs and WDs.
|
Submit a new article
Related links
Submit a new link
Member of following groups:
|
Observation and Astrometry data
| Constellation: | Steinbock |
| Right ascension: | 20h12m09.46s |
| Declination: | -12°53'35.4" |
| Apparent magnitude: | 10.984 |
| Distance: | 26.357 parsecs |
| Proper motion RA: | 195.9 |
| Proper motion Dec: | -197.3 |
| B-T magnitude: | 13.624 |
| V-T magnitude: | 11.202 |
Catalogs and designations:
|
