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A NEW, BRIGHT, SHORT-PERIOD, EMISSION LINE BINARY IN OPHIUCHUS*

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M. A. Stark1,6, Richard A. Wade2, John R. Thorstensen3, Christopher S. Peters3, Horace A. Smith4, Robert D. Miller4 and E. M. Green5

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The 11th magnitude star LS IV-08°3 has been classified previously as an OB star in the Luminous Stars survey, or alternatively as a hot subdwarf. It is actually a binary star. We present spectroscopy, spectroscopic orbital elements, and time-series photometry from observations made at the Kitt Peak National Observatory 2.1 m, Steward Observatory 2.3 m, MDM Observatory 1.3 m and 2.4 m, Hobby-Eberly 9.2 m, and Michigan State University 0.6 m telescopes. The star exhibits emission of varying strength in the cores of H and He I absorption lines. Emission is also present at 4686 Å (He II) and near 4640/4650 Å (N III/C III). Time-series spectroscopy collected from 2005 July to 2007 June shows coherent, periodic radial velocity variations of the Hα line, which we interpret as orbital motion with a period of 0.1952894(10) days. High-resolution spectra show that there are two emission components, one broad and one narrow, moving in antiphase, as might arise from an accretion disk and the irradiated face of the mass donor star. Less coherent, low-amplitude photometric variability is also present on a timescale similar to the orbital period. Diffuse interstellar bands indicate considerable reddening, which however is consistent with a distance of ~100-200 pc. The star is the likely counterpart of a weak ROSAT X-ray source, whose properties are consistent with accretion in a cataclysmic variable (CV) binary system. We classify LS IV-08°3 as a new member of the UX UMa subclass of CV stars.


Footnote
*  Based in part on observations obtained with the Hobby-Eberly Telescope, which is a joint project of the University of Texas at Austin, the Pennsylvania State University, Stanford University, Ludwig-Maximillians-Universität München, and Georg-August-Universität Göttingen.
Keywords

binaries: close; novae, cataclysmic variables; stars: emission-line, Be; stars: individual (LS IV-08°3); stars: variables: other


Dates

Issue 3 (2008 March)

Received 2007 September 13, accepted for publication 2007 December 12

Published 2008 February 12



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