In the Shadow of the Transiting Disk: Imaging epsilon Aurigae in Eclipse
Solar and Stellar Astrophysics
2010-04-15 v1
Abstract
Eclipses of the single-line spectroscopic binary star, epsilon Aurigae, provide an opportunity to study the poorly-defined companion. We used the MIRC beam combiner on the CHARA array to create interferometric images during eclipse ingress. Our results demonstrate that the eclipsing body is a dark disk that is opaque and tilted, and therefore exclude alternative models for the system. These data constrain the geometry and masses of the components, providing evidence that the F-star is not a massive supergiant star.
Cite
@article{arxiv.1004.2464,
title = {In the Shadow of the Transiting Disk: Imaging epsilon Aurigae in Eclipse},
author = {Brian Kloppenborg and Robert Stencel and John D. Monnier and Gail Schaefer and Ming Zhao and Fabien Baron and Hal McAlister and Theo ten Brummelaar and Xiao Che and Chris Farrington and Ettore Pedretti and PJ Sallave-Goldfinger and Judit Sturmann and Laszlo Sturmann and Nathalie Thureau and Nils Turner and Sean M. Carroll},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1004.2464},
year = {2010}
}
Comments
As submitted to Nature. Published in Nature April 8, 2010.