Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-tj2md Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-16T00:43:52.594Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Taming the binaries

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 October 2007

D. Pourbaix*
Affiliation:
Institut d'Astronomie et d'Astrophysique, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium email: pourbaix@astro.ulb.ac.be
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

Astrometric binaries are both a gold mine and a nightmare. They are a gold mine because they are sometimes the unique source of orbital inclination for spectroscopic binaries, thus making it possible for astrophysicists to get some clues about the mass of the often invisible secondary. However, this is an ideal situation in the sense that one benefits from the additional knowledge that it is a binary for which some orbital parameters are somehow secured (e.g. the orbital period). On the other hand, binaries are a nightmare, especially when their binary nature is not established yet. Indeed, in such cases, depending on the time interval covered by the observations compared to the orbital period, either the parallax or the proper motion can be severely biased if the successive positions of the binary are modelled assuming it is a single star. With large survey campaigns sometimes monitoring some stars for the first time ever, it is therefore crucial to design robust reduction pipelines in which such troublesome objects are quickly identified and either removed or processed accordingly. Finally, even if an object is known not to be a single star, the binary model might turn out not to be the most appropriate for describing the observations. These different situations will be covered.

Type
Contributed Papers
Copyright
Copyright © International Astronomical Union 2008

References

Adelman-McCarthy, J. K., Agüeros, M. A., Allam, S. S., et al. , 2007, ApJS, 172, 634CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Armstrong, J. T., Mozurkewich, D., & Rickard, L. J., et al. , 1998, ApJ, 496, 550CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bagnuolo, W. G. Jr., Taylor, S. F., & McAlister, H. A., et al. , 2006, AJ, 131, 2695CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carney, B. W., Latham, D. W., Stefanik, R. P., Laird, J. B., Morse, J. A., Jan. 2003, AJ, 125, 293CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Christy, J. W., Wellnitz, D. D., Currie, D. G., 1983, Lowell Observatory Bulletin, 167, 28Google Scholar
Davis, J., Mendez, A., Seneta, E. B., et al. , Feb. 2005, MNRAS, 356, 1362CrossRefGoogle Scholar
ESA, 1997, The Hipparcos and Tycho Catalogues, ESA SP-1200Google Scholar
Fekel, F. C., Barlow, D. J., Scarfe, C. D., Jancart, S., Pourbaix, D., 2005, AJ, 129, 1001CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fekel, F. C., Williamson, M., Pourbaix, D., 2007, AJ, 133, 2431CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Frankowski, A., Jancart, S., Jorissen, A., 2007, A&A, 464, 377Google Scholar
Goldin, A., Makarov, V. V., 2006, ApJS, 166, 341CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Halbwachs, J. L., Pourbaix, D., 2005, 575–578, ESA SP-576Google Scholar
Halbwachs, J. L., Mayor, M., Udry, S., Arenou, F., 2003, A&A, 397, 159Google Scholar
Hartkopf, W. I., Mason, B. D., Worley, C. E., 2001a, AJ, 122, 3472CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hartkopf, W. I., McAlister, H. A., Mason, B. D., 2001b, AJ, 122, 3480CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Høg, E., Fabricius, C., Makarov, V. V., et al. , 2000, A&A, 355, L27Google Scholar
Hummel, C. A., Mozurkewich, D., Elias, N. M. II, et al. , 1994, AJ, 108, 326CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hummel, C. A., Mozurkewich, D., Armstrong, J. T., et al. , 1998, AJ, 116, 2536CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jancart, S., Jorissen, A., Babusiaux, C., Pourbaix, D., 2005, A&A, 442, 365Google Scholar
Makarov, V. V., Kaplan, G. H., 2005, AJ, 129, 2420CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mason, B. D., Wycoff, G. L., Hartkopf, W. I., Douglas, G. G., Worley, C. E., 2001, AJ, 122, 3466CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McAlister, H., 1997, In: Docobo, J. A., Elipe, A., McAlister, H. (eds.) Visual double stars: formation, dynamics and evolutionary tracks, 3, Kluwer Academic PublishersGoogle Scholar
Mignard, F., Bailer Jones, C., Bastian, U., et al. , 2008, In: Jin, W.J., Platais, I. & Perryman, M.A.C. (eds.), 2008, Proceedings of IAU Symposium 248, p.224Google Scholar
Perryman, M. A. C., 2008, In: Jin, W. J., Platais, I. & Perryman, M. A. C. (eds.), 2008, Proceedings of IAU Symposium 248, p. 8Google Scholar
Perryman, M. A. C., Lindegren, L., Arenou, F., et al. , 1996, A&A, 310, L21Google Scholar
Pourbaix, D., Platais, I., Detournay, S., et al. , 2003, A&A, 399, 1167Google Scholar
Pourbaix, D., Ivezić, Ž., Knapp, G. R., Gunn, J. E., Lupton, R. H., 2004, A&A, 423, 755Google Scholar
Smolčić, V., Ivezić, Ž., Knapp, G.R., et al. , 2004, ApJ, 615, L141CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sorokin, L. Y., Tokovinin, A. A., 1985, SvAL, 11, 226Google Scholar
Torres, G., Lacy, C. H., Marschall, L. A., Sheets, H. A., Mader, J. A., 2006, ApJ, 640, 1018CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Whitelock, P., Marang, F., & Feast, M., 2000, MNRAS, 319, 728Google Scholar
Wielen, R., 1996, A&A, 314, 679Google Scholar
Zucker, S., Mazeh, T., 2000, ApJ, 531, L67CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zucker, S., Mazeh, T., 2001, ApJ, 562, 549CrossRefGoogle Scholar