Confirmation and characterization of neglected WDS systems using Gaia DR3 and the Virtual Observatory

TL;DR

This study utilizes Gaia DR3 and Virtual Observatory tools to confirm and characterize 428 neglected binary and multiple stellar systems from the WDS, identifying physical pairs and potential systems for metallicity studies.

Contribution

It is the first to systematically confirm and characterize neglected WDS systems using Gaia DR3 data and Virtual Observatory tools, including mass and binding energy estimates.

Findings

Confirmed 42 physical binary systems through binding energy calculations.

Identified 75 pairs with F/G-M spectral types for metallicity studies.

Validated the physical nature of 428 neglected systems from WDS.

Abstract

The aim of this paper is, making use of the Gaia DR3 catalogue and Virtual Observatory tools, to confirm and characterize 428 binary and multiple stellar systems classified as neglected (only one observation) in the Washington Double Star Catalogue (WDS). The components of the stellar systems have the same parallax and proper motion (within the errors) and are separated by less than 50 000 AU, which minimizes the number of by-chance counterparts. Effective temperatures calculated using VOSA were used to estimate stellar masses. Binding energies were calculated for 42 binary systems confirming they are physical pairs. Also we found 75 pairs with F/G- M spectral types which are very interesting to improve the determination of the metallicity of the M star from the higher-mass component.