PHASES Differential Astrometry and the Mutual Inclination of the V819 Herculis Triple Star System

V819 Herculis is a well-studied triple star system consisting of a ``wide'' pair with 5.5 year period, one component of which is a 2.2-day period eclipsing single-line spectroscopic binary. Differential astrometry measurements from the Palomar High-precision Astrometric Search for Exoplanet Systems (PHASES) are presented and used to determine a relative inclination between the short- and long-period orbits of 23.6 +- 4.9 degrees. This represents only the sixth unambiguous determination of the mutual inclination of orbits in a hierarchical triple system. This result is combined with those for the other five systems for analysis of the observed distribution of mutual inclinations in nearby triple systems. It is found that this distribution is different than that which one would expect from random orientations with statistical significance at the 94% level; implications for studying the spatial distribution of angular momentum in star forming regions is discussed.Comment: Accepted for publication in Astronomy and Astrophysics; changed direction of axis for figure 2

The Phases Differential Astrometry Data Archive. IV. The Triple Star Systems 63 Gem A and HR 2896

Differential astrometry measurements from the Palomar High-precision Astrometric Search for Exoplanet Systems (PHASES) are used to constrain the astrometric orbit of the previously known ≾2 day subsystem in the triple system 63 Gem A and have detected a previously unknown two-year Keplerian wobble superimposed on the visual orbit of the much longer period (213 years) binary system HR 2896. 63 Gem A was already known to be triple from spectroscopic work, and absorption lines from all three stars can be identified and their individual Doppler shifts measured; new velocities for all three components are presented to aid in constraining the orbit and measuring the stellar masses. In fact, 63 Gem itself is a sextuple system: the hierarchical triple (Aa1-Aa2)-Ab (in which Aa1 and Aa2 orbit each other with a rapid period just under 2 days, and Ab orbits these every two years), plus three distant common proper motion companions. The very small astrometric perturbation caused by the inner pair in 63 Gem A stretches the limits of current astrometric capabilities, but PHASES observations are able to constrain the orientation of the orbit. The two bright stars comprising the HR 2896 long-period (213 year) system have a combined spectral type of K0III and the newly detected object's mass estimate places it in the regime of being an M dwarf. The motion of the stars are slow enough that their spectral features are always blended, preventing Doppler studies. The PHASES measurements and radial velocities (when available) have been combined with lower precision single-aperture measurements covering a much longer time frame (from eyepiece measurements, speckle interferometry, and adaptive optics) to improve the characterization of the long-period orbits in both binaries. The visual orbits of the short- and long-period systems are presented for both systems and used to calculate two possible values of the mutual inclinations between inner and outer orbits of 152° ± 12° or a less likely value of 31° ± 11° for 63 Gem A and 10.°2 ± 2.°4 or 171.°2 ± 2.°8 for HR 2896. The first is not coplanar, whereas the second is either nearly coplanar or anti-coplanar

The PHASES Differential Astrometry Data Archive. V. Candidate Substellar Companions to Binary Systems

The Palomar High-precision Astrometric Search for Exoplanet Systems monitored 51 subarcsecond binary systems to evaluate whether tertiary companions as small as Jovian planets orbited either the primary or secondary stars, perturbing their otherwise smooth Keplerian motions. Six binaries are presented that show evidence of substellar companions orbiting either the primary or secondary star. Of these six systems, the likelihoods of two of the detected perturbations to represent real objects are considered to be "high confidence", while the remaining four systems are less certain and will require continued observations for confirmation.Comment: 16 Pages, Accepted to A

Radio Astrometry Of The Triple Systems Algol And UX Arietis

We have used multi-epoch long-baseline radio interferometry to determine the proper motion and orbital elements of Algol and UX Arietis, two radio-bright, close binary stellar systems with distant tertiary components. For Algol, we refine the proper motion and outer orbit solutions, confirming the recent result of Zavala et al. (2010) that the inner orbit is retrograde. The radio centroid closely tracks the motion of the KIV secondary. In addition, the radio morphology varies from double-lobed at low flux level to crescent-shaped during active periods. These results are most easily interpreted as synchrotron emission from a large, co-rotating meridional loop centered on the K-star. If this is correct, it provides a radio-optical frame tie candidate with an uncertainty {\pm}0.5 mas. For UX Arietis, we find a outer orbit solution that accounts for previous VLBI observations of an acceleration term in the proper motion fit. The outer orbit solution is also consistent with previously published radial velocity curves and speckle observations of a third body. The derived tertiary mass, 0.75 solar masses, is consistent with the K1 main-sequence star detected spectroscopically. The inner orbit solution favors radio emission from the active K0IV primary only. The radio morphology, consisting of a single, partially resolved emission region, may be associated with the persistent polar spot observed using Doppler imaging

SB9: The Ninth Catalogue of Spectroscopic Binary Orbits

The Ninth Catalogue of Spectroscopic Binary Orbits (http://sb9.astro.ulb.ac.be) continues the series of compilations of spectroscopic orbits carried out over the past 35 years by Batten and collaborators. As of 2004 May 1st, the new Catalogue holds orbits for 2,386 systems. Some essential differences between this catalogue and its predecessors are outlined and three straightforward applications are presented: (1) Completeness assessment: period distribution of SB1s and SB2s; (2) Shortest periods across the H-R diagram; (3) Period-eccentricity relation.Comment: Accepte for publication in A&A, 6 pages, 6 figure

Orbit Determination of Close Binary Systems using Lucky Imaging

We present relative positions of visual binaries observed during 2009 with the FastCam "lucky-imaging" camera at the 1.5-m Carlos Sanchez Telescope (TCS) at the Observatorio del Teide. We obtained 424 CCD observations (averaged in 198 mean relative positions) of 157 binaries with angular separations in the range 0.14-15.40", with a median separation of 0.51". For a given system, each CCD image represents the sum of the best 10-25% images from 1000-5000 short-exposure frames. Derived internal errors were 7 mas in r and 1.2^{\circ} (9 mas) in q. When comparing to systems with very well-known orbits, we find that the rms deviation in r residuals is 23 mas, while the rms deviation in q residuals is 0.73 deg/r. We confirmed 18 Hipparcos binaries and we report new companions to BVD 36 A and J 621 B. For binaries with preliminary orbital parameters, the relative radial velocity was estimated as well. We also present four new revised orbits computed for LDS 873, BU 627 A-BC, BU 628 and HO 197 AB. This work is the first results on visual binaries using the FastCam lucky-imaging camera.Comment: 23 pages, 10 figures, 14 tables, accepted August 18th, 2011, to be published in MNRA

SB9: The ninth catalogue of spectroscopic binary orbits

The Ninth Catalogue of Spectroscopic Binary Orbits (http://sb9.astro.ulb.ac.be) continues the series of compilations of spectroscopic orbits carried out over the past 35 years by Batten and collaborators. As of 2004 May 1st, the new Catalogue holds orbits for 2386 systems. Some essential differences between this catalogue and its predecessors are out-lined and three straightforward applications are presented: (1) completeness assessment: period distribution of SB1s and SB2s; (2) shortest periods across the H-R diagram; (3) period-eccentricity relation.Facultad de Ciencias Astronómicas y Geofísica

Binary Star Orbits from Speckle Interferometry. VI. The Nearby Solar-Type Speckle-Spectroscopic Binary HR 6697

Interferometric, spectroscopic, astrometric, and photometric observations are presented for the nearby solar-type binary HR 6697. The system consists of a G0-2 V primary and a K2-S V secondary. From a combined solution of the speckle and spectroscopic data the orbital period is 881 days or 2.41 yr, the semimajor axis is 2.1 A.U., the eccentricity is 0.42, and the inclination is 68°. The masses and luminosities are 1.16±0.12 Msun, 0.77±0.05 Msun, 1.61±0.15 Lsun, and 0.17±0.05 Lsun. Two independent determinations of the parallax, a trigonometric parallax of 0 .0379±0 .0030, and an orbital parallax of 0 .0375±0 .0014, are in excellent agreement and give a mean distance of 26.6±0.9 pc. The system appears to be metal rich relative to the Sun, and space motions do not identify it with any moving group

First Results from the CHARA Array. II. A Description of the Instrument

The CHARA Array is a six 1-m telescope optical/IR interferometric array located on Mount Wilson California, designed and built by the Center for High Angular Resolution Astronomy of Georgia State University. In this paper we describe the main elements of the Array hardware and software control systems as well as the data reduction methods currently being used. Our plans for upgrades in the near future are also described