Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-2xdlg Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-07T20:34:47.610Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Blended Visual Binaries as Tests of Low Amplitude Orbit Detection and Determination Capability in Long-Focus Photographic Astrometry

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 April 2016

Sarah Lee Lippincott
Affiliation:
Sproul Observatory, Swarthmore College
John L. Hershey
Affiliation:
Sproul Observatory, Swarthmore College

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.

Photocentric orbital motions from 60-year Sproul plate series are shown for three visual binaries, ζ Her, 85 Peg and Ho 296. Mass ratios of the first two pairs, which have large-amplitude blended orbits, carry internal errors at the level of one percent. Orbital elements computed independently from the blended photographic observations agree closely with the well-determined visual orbits. Ho 296 serves as a test of the Sproul plate series to detect a 20-year orbit with an amplitude of two, or one, micron. Simulations of orbital motion in single star residual series confirm this detection capability, which corresponds to planetary mass for dark objects around nearby stars. A mass-luminosity diagram of the lower main sequence is shown, including one for invisible astrometric companions.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Lowell Observatory 1983

References

Hershey, J. L. 1981. Submitted to A.J.Google Scholar
Hershey, J. L., Borgman, E. R., and Worth, M. D. 1980. Ap. J. 240, 130.Google Scholar
Lippincott, S. L. 1981. P.A.S.P. 93, June.Google Scholar