1. In the Shadow of the Transiting Disk: Imaging epsilon Aurigae in Eclipse
- Author
-
Kloppenborg, Brian, Stencel, Robert, Monnier, John D., Schaefer, Gail, Zhao, Ming, Baron, Fabien, McAlister, Hal, Brummelaar, Theo ten, Che, Xiao, Farrington, Chris, Pedretti, Ettore, Sallave-Goldfinger, PJ, Sturmann, Judit, Sturmann, Laszlo, Thureau, Nathalie, Turner, Nils, and Carroll, Sean M.
- Subjects
Astrophysics - Solar and Stellar Astrophysics - 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., Comment: As submitted to Nature. Published in Nature April 8, 2010.
- Published
- 2010
- Full Text
- View/download PDF