Mathematics – Logic
Scientific paper
Jul 2000
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2000hst..prop.8586b&link_type=abstract
HST Proposal ID #8586
Mathematics
Logic
Hst Proposal Id #8586 Cool Stars
Scientific paper
This is a continuation of a Cycle 7-8 Long-Term project. The program consists of annual or biannual WFPC2 or FGS observations of three visual binary stars that will ultimately yield fundamental astrophysical results, once their orbits and masses are determined. Our targets are the following: {1} Procyon {P=41 yr}, for which our first WFPC2 images yielded an extremely accurate angular separation of the bright F star and its very faint white-dwarf companion. Combined with ground-based astrometry of the bright star, our observation significantly revised downward the derived masses, and brought Procyon A into excellent agreement with theoretical evolutionary tracks for the first time. The mass of Procyon B, however, implies a completely unexpected chemical composition for the white dwarf, and now poses a sharp evolutionary puzzle. With the continued monitoring proposed here, we will obtain masses to an accuracy of better than 1%, providing a testbed for theories of Sun-like stars and white dwarfs. {2} G 107-70, a close double white dwarf {P=19 yr} that promises to add two accurate masses to the tiny handful of white-dwarf masses that are directly known from dynamical measurements. {3} Mu Cas {P=21 yr}, a famous metal-deficient G dwarf for which accurate masses will lead to the stars' helium contents, with cosmological implications.
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