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Astrometric studies in the region of Algol

1995; Institute of Physics; Volume: 109; Linguagem: Inglês

10.1086/117288

1538-3881

G. Gatewood, Joost Kiewiet de Jonge, W. D. Heintz,

History and Developments in Astronomy

view Abstract Citations (8) References (18) Co-Reads Similar Papers Volume Content Graphics Metrics Export Citation NASA/ADS Astrometric Studies in the Region of Algol Gatewood, George ; de Jonge, Joost Kiewiet ; Heintz, Wulff D. Abstract The distance and masses of the components of the triple star Algol (Beta Persei) are derived from photographic and electronic data collected with the two 0.76 m objectives of the Thaw Refractor at the University of Pittsburgh's Allegheny Observatory and with the 0.61 m visual refractor at Swarthmore College's Sproul Observatory. These datasets constitute the major narrow-field astrometric collections of this star. The newly derived weighted mean trigonometric parallax of Algol is now +0.0343 +/- 0.00085 corresponding to a distance modulus of 2.32 +/- 0.054 mag. The total mass of the Algol system is estimated at 6.05 +/- 0.45 solar mass. The photocentric semimajor axis of the AB/C orbit is determined in the blue, yellow, and red bandpasses of the three independent astrometric systems. The total mass for the A and B component stars is found to be 4.63 +/- 0.35 solar mass and the mass of the C component is determined to be 1.42 +/- 0.13 solar mass. Residuals to this solution showed no meaningful correlation to the orbital motion of A/B. Thus it is probable that the photocenter is located near the center of mass of the A/B subsystem. There is no evidence of a previously suggested 32 yr orbital motion and no significant acceleration is evident in the 60 yr photographic series. It is therefore unlikely that the system has a fourth stellar mass component. It is noted that the visual band interferometric studies of the Algol system have the AB and C components interchanged. Publication: The Astronomical Journal Pub Date: January 1995 DOI: 10.1086/117288 Bibcode: 1995AJ....109..434G Keywords: Astrometry; Distance; Stellar Mass; Triple Stars; Astronomical Catalogs; Astronomical Photography; Electro-Optical Photography; Parallax; Astronomy; ASTROMETRY; STARS: INDIVIDUAL: ALGOL full text sources ADS | data products SIMBAD (17)