Preliminary Orbit of the Young Binary Haro 1-14c

TL;DR

This study used interferometry and spectroscopy to determine the orbit, masses, and distance of the young binary Haro 1-14c, providing valuable data for understanding pre-main sequence stellar evolution.

Contribution

First spatially resolved orbit of Haro 1-14c using interferometry combined with radial velocities, leading to new mass and distance estimates.

Findings

Component masses: primary 0.96 Msun, secondary 0.33 Msun

Distance to system: 111 pc, consistent with Ophiuchus cloud

Estimated age: 3-4 million years

Abstract

Using the Keck Interferometer, we spatially resolved the orbit of the pre-main sequence binary, Haro 1-14c, for the first time. We present these interferometric observations along with additional spectroscopic radial velocity measurements of the components. We performed a simultaneous orbit fit to the interferometric visibilities and the radial velocities of Haro 1-14c. Based on a statistical analysis of the possible orbital solutions that fit the data, we determined component masses of M_1 = 0.96 (+0.27/-0.08) Msun and M_2 = 0.33 (+0.09/-0.02) Msun for the primary and secondary, respectively, and a distance to the system of 111 (+19/-18) pc. The distance measurement is consistent with the close distance estimates of the Ophiuchus molecular cloud. Comparing our results with evolutionary tracks suggests an age of 3-4 Myr for Haro 1-14c. With additional interferometric measurements to improve the uncertainties in the masses and distance, we expect the low-mass secondary to provide important empirical data for calibrating the theoretical evolutionary tracks for pre-main sequence stars.