Resolving the radio nebula around beta Lyrae

Details Resolving the radio nebula around beta Lyrae Resolving the radio nebula around beta Lyrae

2000-04-21

arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0004306v2

A&A 358, 229, 2000

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astrophysics

5 pages, 2 figures. Accepted for publication in A&A

Scientific paper

In this paper we present high spatial resolution radio images of the puzzling binary system beta Lyrae obtained with MERLIN at 5 GHz. We find a nebula surrounding the binary with a brightness temperature of 11000+-700K approximately 40AU across. This definitively confirms the thermal origin of the radio emission, which is consistent with emission from the wind of the B6-8II component (mass loss of order of 10^-7 Msun per year), ionized by the radiation field of the hotter companion. This nebula, surrounding the binary, is the proof that beta Layrae evolved in a non-conservative way, i. e. not all the mass lost by the primary is accretted by the secondary, and present measurements indicate that almost 0.015Msun had been lost from the system since the onset of the Roche lobe overflow phase. Moreover, the nebula is aligned with the jet-like structures inferred from recent optical measurements, indicating a possible connection among them.

Affiliated with

Also associated with

No associations

Rating

Resolving the radio nebula around beta Lyrae does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.

If you have personal experience with Resolving the radio nebula around beta Lyrae, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Resolving the radio nebula around beta Lyrae will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

Comments { 0 }

Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-516805