Differential astrometry measurements from the Palomar High-precision Astrometric Search for Exoplanet Systems have been combined with lower precision single-aperture measurements covering a much longer timespan (from eyepiece measurements, speckle interferometry, and adaptive optics) to determine improved visual orbits for 20 binary stars. In some cases, radial velocity observations exist to constrain the full three-dimensional orbit and determine component masses. The visual orbit of one of these binaries - {alpha} Com (HD 114378) - shows that the system is likely to have eclipses, despite its very long period of 26 years. The next eclipse is predicted to be within a week of 2015 January 24.
The Palomar High-precision Astrometric Search for Exoplanet Systems monitored 51 subarcsecond binary systems to evaluate whether tertiary companions as small as Jovian planets orbited either the primary or secondary stars, perturbing their otherwise smooth Keplerian motions. Six binaries are presented that show evidence of substellar companions orbiting either the primary or secondary star. Of these six systems, the likelihoods of two of the detected perturbations to represent real objects are considered to be "high confidence," while the remaining four systems are less certain and will require continued observations for confirmation.
The Palomar High-precision Astrometric Search for Exoplanet Systems (PHASES) monitored 51 subarcsecond binary systems to determine precision binary orbits, study the geometries of triple and quadruple star systems, and discover previously unknown faint astrometric companions as small as giant planets. PHASES measurements made with the Palomar Testbed Interferometer (PTI) from 2002 until PTI ceased normal operations in late 2008 are presented. Infrared differential photometry of several PHASES targets were measured with Keck Adaptive Optics and are presented.
We present the results of the long-term uniform observations of visual double and multiple stars by 26-inch refractor. Set of observations (all plates) is measured with one measuring device for each star. For 259 pairs of visual double stars which were included in 194 systems, relative positions are calculated. For 127 pairs relative motions are also calculated. For 48 stars with well certain parallaxes from the Gipparkos catalog also the bottom limits for the total masses of systems are received under condition of the elliptic orbit is possible (dynamic mass). Comparison of accuracy of three measuring devices, which were applied to measurement of photographic plates, is executed. It is shown that differences in distances between the components, measured on the different measuring devices can reach 0.2" that proves advantage of uniform observations.
We present the analysis result of photographic observations of 221 visual double stars, observed in the years 1987-1989 with the 60-cm double-refractor at the Bosscha Observatory at Lembang, Java.
We present the results of photographic observations of 399 visual double stars of the Hipparcos Input Catalogue (HIC), observed in the years 1980 and 1990-1991 with the 60-cm double-refractor of the Bosscha Observatory at Lembang, Java.
This catalog contains the results of photographic observations of 248 double stars, obtained at the Bosscha Observatory at Lembang, Indonesia 1981-1983.
Colour-magnitude diagrams form a traditional way of presenting luminous objects in the Universe and compare them to each other. Here, we estimate the photometric distance of 44 transiting exoplanetary systems. Parallaxes for seven systems confirm our methodology. Combining those measurements with fluxes obtained while planets were occulted by their host stars, we compose colour-magnitude diagrams in the near and mid-infrared. When possible, planets are plotted alongside very low mass stars and field brown dwarfs, who often share similar sizes and equilibrium temperatures. They offer a natural, empirical, comparison sample. We also include directly imaged exoplanets and the expected loci of pure blackbodies. Irradiated planets do not match blackbodies; their emission spectra are not featureless. For a given luminosity, hot Jupiters' daysides show a larger variety in colour than brown dwarfs do and display an increasing diversity in colour with decreasing intrinsic luminosity. The presence of an extra absorbent within the 4.5{mu}m band would reconcile outlying hot Jupiters with ultra-cool dwarfs' atmospheres. Measuring the emission of gas giants cooler than 1000K would disentangle whether planets' atmospheres behave more similarly to brown dwarfs' atmospheres than to blackbodies, whether they are akin to the young directly imaged planets, or if irradiated gas giants form their own sequence.
New CCD photometric observations of fourteen short-period low-mass eclipsing binaries (LMBs) in the photometric filters I, R, and V were used for a light curve analysis. A discrepancy remains between observed radii and those derived from the theoretical modeling for LMBs, in general. Mass calibration of all observed LMBs was performed using only the photometric indices. The light curve modeling of these selected systems was completed, yielding the new derived masses and radii for both components. We compared these systems with the compilation of other known double-lined LMB systems with uncertainties of masses and radii less then 5%, which includes 66 components of binaries where both spectroscopy and photometry were combined together. All of our systems are circular short-period binaries, and for some of them, the photospheric spots were also used. A purely photometric study of the light curves without spectroscopy seems unable to achieve high enough precision and accuracy in the masses and radii to act as meaningful test of the M-R relation for low-mass stars.