Orbits and Individual Masses of Some Visual Binaries

TL;DR

This paper computes and refines the orbits and masses of several visual binary star systems using an independent method, providing new orbital data and confirming mass estimates with Gaia parallaxes.

Contribution

It introduces a new orbit for WDS J17466-0354 and modifies existing orbits for three binaries using an independent computational approach.

Findings

New orbit for WDS J17466-0354 established

Modified orbits for three other binaries

Good agreement between dynamical and spectral mass estimates

Abstract

The orbits of visual binary systems still attract many of the working groups in astronomy. These orbits are the most important and reliable source of the stellar masse. In the present paper, we are going to compute orbits and dynamical masses of some visual binaries using an independent code. We used Kowalsky method to compute the geometrical elements. The dynamical elements (the period and the time of the periastron passage) are computed by implementing the double areal constant. We used the developed code to calculate the orbits for the four visual binaries, WDS J02262+3428, WDS J14310-0548, WDS J17466-0354, and WDS J12422+2622. We introduced a new orbit of the neglected visual binary WDS J17466-0354 and modified orbits for the rest three binaries. Using the Gaia DR2 parallaxes we computed the total masses of the systems. Comparing the adopted total masses with those derived from the spectral type relation revealed good agreement.