Title
KH 15D: A Spectroscopic Binary
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
9-2004
Department
Astronomy
Language
English
Publication Title
The Astronomical Journal
Abstract
We present the results of a high-resolution spectroscopic monitoring program of the eclipsing pre–main-sequence star KH 15D that reveal it to be a single-lined spectroscopic binary. We find that the best-fit Keplerian model has a period P = 48.38 days, which is nearly identical to the photometric period. Thus, we find the best explanation for the periodic dimming of KH 15D is that the binary motion carries the currently visible star alternately above and behind the edge of an obscuring cloud. The data are consistent with the models involving an inclined circumstellar disk, as recently proposed by Winn et al. and Chiang & Murray-Clay. We show that the mass ratio expected from models of pre–main-sequence evolution, together with the mass constraints for the visible star, restrict the orbital eccentricity to 0.68 ≤ e ≤ 0.80 and the mass function to 0.125 M⊙ ≤ FM/ i ≤ 0.5 M⊙.
DOI
10.1086/422735
Recommended Citation
Johnson, John Asher, Geoffrey W. Marcy Catrina M. Hamilton, William Herbst, and Christopher M. Johns-Krull. "KH 15D: A Spectroscopic Binary." The Astronomical Journal 128, no. 3 (2004): 1265-1272. http://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1086/422735/meta
Comments
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