English

The LEECH Exoplanet Imaging Survey: Orbit and Component Masses of the Intermediate Age, Late-Type Binary NO UMa

Solar and Stellar Astrophysics 2016-02-17 v1

Abstract

We present high-resolution Large Binocular Telescope LBTI/LMIRcam images of the spectroscopic and astrometric binary NO UMa obtained as part of the LBTI Exozodi Exoplanet Common Hunt (LEECH) exoplanet imaging survey. Our H, Ks_s, and L'-band observations resolve the system at angular separations <0.09". The components exhibit significant orbital motion over a span of ~7 months. We combine our imaging data with archival images, published speckle interferometry measurements, and existing spectroscopic velocity data to solve the full orbital solution and estimate component masses. The masses of the K2.0±\pm0.5 primary and K6.5±\pm0.5 secondary are 0.83±\pm0.02 M_{\odot} and 0.64±\pm0.02 M_{\odot}, respectively. We also derive a system distance of d = 25.87±\pm0.02 pc and revise the Galactic kinematics of NO UMa. Our revised Galactic kinematics confirm NO UMa as a nuclear member of the ~500 Myr old Ursa Major moving group and it is thus a mass and age benchmark. We compare the masses of the NO UMa binary components to those predicted by five sets of stellar evolution models at the age of the Ursa Major group. We find excellent agreement between our measured masses and model predictions with little systematic scatter between the models. NO UMa joins the short list of nearby, bright, late-type binaries having known ages and fully characterized orbits.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1510.03813,
  title  = {The LEECH Exoplanet Imaging Survey: Orbit and Component Masses of the Intermediate Age, Late-Type Binary NO UMa},
  author = {Joshua E. Schlieder and Andrew J. Skemer and Anne-Lise Maire and Silvano Desidera and Philip Hinz and Michael F. Skrutskie and Jarron Leisenring and Vanessa Bailey and Denis Defrere and Simone Esposito and Klaus G. Strassmeier and Michael Weber and Beth A. Biller and Mickael Bonnefoy and Esther Buenzli and Laird M. Close and Justin R. Crepp and Josh A. Eisner and Karl-Heinz Hofmann and Thomas Henning and Katie M. Morzinski and Dieter Schertl and Gerd Weigelt and Charles E. Woodward},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1510.03813},
  year   = {2016}
}

Comments

11 pages, 5 figures, 4 tables, accepted for publication in ApJ