Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy
Scientific paper
Dec 2007
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2007aas...211.0323r&link_type=abstract
American Astronomical Society, AAS Meeting #211, #03.23; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 39, p.726
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astronomy
Scientific paper
Polaris is the nearest and brightest classical Cepheid. It is a member of a 30 year spectroscopic binary system as well as having a more distant companion. We have used the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) camera in 2005 and 2006 to resolve the spectroscopic orbit and measure the separation of the companion which is more than 5 mag fainter than the Cepheid and separated by only 0.17". We have seen retrograde orbital motion between the two epochs. Combining these measurements with the spectroscopic orbit of Kamper (1996, JRASC, 90, 140) and the proper motion measurement of Wielen et al. (2000, AAp, 360, 399), we derive a mass for the Cepheid of 4.5 +2.5/-1.2 Msun. This is the first purely dynamical mass of a Cepheid. In the continuing series of observations with HST, we have obtained the first Wide Field and Planetary Camera (WFPC2) observation in 2007, and been able to detect the companion. The accuracy of the mass will improve as the series continues.Support for this work was provided by grants HST-GO-10593.01-A and also Chandra X-ray Center NASA Contract NAS8-03060 (for NRE and MK).
Bond Howard E.
Bono Giuseppe
Karovska Magarita
Mason Brian
Nelan Edmund
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