B[e] stars at the highest angular resolution: the case of HD87643

TL;DR

This paper presents high-angular-resolution observations of the B[e] star HD87643, revealing a companion star and discussing its implications for understanding the star's complex environment.

Contribution

It provides the first detection of a companion to HD87643 using the highest angular resolution instruments, clarifying previous observational ambiguities.

Findings

Detection of a companion star to HD87643 with AMBER and NACO

Implications for the star's circumstellar environment and previous data interpretations

Enhanced understanding of B[e] star characteristics at high resolution

Abstract

New results on the B[e] star HD87643 are presented here. They were obtained with a wide range of different instruments, from wide-field imaging with the WFI camera, high resolution spectroscopy with the FEROS instrument, high angular resolution imaging with the adaptive optics camera NACO, to the highest angular resolution available with AMBER on the VLTI. We report the detection of a companion to HD87643 with AMBER, subsequently confirmed in the NACO data. Implications of that discovery to some of the previously difficult-to-understand data-sets are then presented.