HD 144432: a young triple system

TL;DR

This study reveals that the young star HD 144432 is a triple system with a close binary companion, providing detailed stellar parameters and confirming the system's co-eval age of approximately 6 million years.

Contribution

The paper uncovers that HD 144432 B is a close binary, and provides detailed spectroscopic analysis of all three components, a novel insight into this young stellar system.

Findings

HD 144432 B is a close binary with 0.1 arcsec separation.

The companions are low-mass T Tauri stars of spectral types K7V and M1V.

The system's age is approximately 6 million years.

Abstract

We present new imaging and spectroscopic data of the young Herbig star HD 144432 A, which was known to be a binary star with a separation of 1.47 arcsec. High-resolution NIR imaging data obtained with NACO at the VLT reveal that HD 144432 B itself is a close binary pair with a separation of 0.1 arcsec. High-resolution optical spectra, acquired with FEROS at the 2.2m MPG/ESO telescope in La Silla, of the primary star and its co-moving companions were used to determine their main stellar parameters such as effective temperature, surface gravity, radial velocity, and projected rotational velocity by fitting synthetic spectra to the observed stellar spectra. The two companions, HD 144432 B and HD 144432 C, are identified as low-mass T Tauri stars of spectral type K7V and M1V, respectively. From the position in the HRD the triple system appears to be co-eval with a system age of 6+/-3 Myr.