Astrometric and Photometric Measurements of Binary Stars with Adaptive Optics: Observations from 2002

TL;DR

This study used adaptive optics at the AEOS telescope in 2002 to measure astrometry and photometry of binary stars, aiding future orbital analysis and spectral classification, while also identifying new common proper motion pairs.

Contribution

It provides new high-resolution measurements of binary stars, including astrometry, photometry, and proper motion analysis, with some newly identified common proper motion systems.

Findings

Detection of two candidate companions, unlikely to be bound.

Confirmation of common proper motion in eight systems.

Identification of a variable star in HD 114378.

Abstract

The adaptive optics system at the 3.6 m AEOS telescope was used to measure the astrometry and differential magnitude in I-band of 56 binary stars in 2002. The astrometric measurements will be of use for future orbital determination, and the photometric measurements will be of use in estimating the spectral types of the component stars. Two candidate companions were detected, but neither is likely to be gravitationally bound. Nine systems had not been observed in over 40 years. Eight of these are shown to share common proper motion, while HD 182352 is shown to be a background star. One of the two components of the HD 114378 (Alpha Com) is shown to be a variable star of unknown type. In addition, 86 stars were unresolved and the full-width half maxima of the images are presented.