We report results of speckle-interferometric monitoring of visual hierarchical systems using the newly commissioned instrument NESSI at the 3.5-m WIYN telescope. During one year, 390 measurements of 129 resolved subsystems were made, while some targets were unresolved. Using our astrometry and archival data, we computed 36 orbits (27 for the first time). Spectro-interferometric orbits of seven pairs are determined by combining positional measurements with radial velocities measured, mostly, with the Center for Astrophysics digital speedometers. For the hierarchical systems HIP 65026 (periods 49 and 1.23 years) and HIP 85209 (periods 34 and 1.23 years) we determined both the inner and the outer orbits using astrometry and radial velocities and measured the mutual orbit inclinations of 11.3+-1.0 deg and 12.0+-3.0 deg, respectively. Four bright stars are resolved for the first time; two of those are triple systems. Several visual subsystems announced in the literature are shown to be spurious. We note that subsystems in compact hierarchies with outer separations less than 100 au tend to have less eccentric orbits compared to wider hierarchies.
Orbits of 55 visual binary stars are computed using recent speckle interferometry data from the SOAR telescope: 33 first-time orbits and 22 revisions of previous orbit calculations. The orbital periods range from 1.4 to 370 years, the quality of orbits ranges from definitive to preliminary and tentative. Most binaries consist of low-mass dwarfs and have short periods (median period 31 years). The dynamical parallaxes and masses are evaluated and compared to the Hipparcos parallaxes. Using differential speckle photometry, binary components are placed on the color-magnitude diagram.
Orbits of 44 close and fast visual binaries are computed using the latest speckle observations; 23 orbits are determined for the first time, the rest are revisions, some quite substantial. Six combined orbits use radial velocities. The median period is 15.6 years, the shortest period is one year. Most stars are nearby late-type dwarfs. Dynamical parallaxes and estimates of the masses are derived from the orbital elements and the photometry of the components.
This paper details speckle observations of binary stars taken at the Lowell Discovery Telescope, the WIYN Telescope, and the Gemini telescopes between 2016 January and 2019 September. The observations taken at Gemini and Lowell were done with the Differential Speckle Survey Instrument (DSSI), and those done at WIYN were taken with the successor instrument to DSSI at that site, the NN-EXPLORE Exoplanet Star and Speckle Imager (NESSI). In total, we present 378 observations of 178 systems and we show that the uncertainty in the measurement precision for the combined data set is ~2 mas in separati…
The results of speckle interferometric observations at the 4.1 m Southern Astrophysical Research Telescope (SOAR) in 2019 are given, totaling 2555 measurements of 1972 resolved pairs with separations from 15 mas (median 0.21") and magnitude difference up to 6 mag, and non-resolutions of 684 targets. We resolved for the first time 90 new pairs or subsystems in known binaries. This work continues our long-term speckle program. Its main goal is to monitor orbital motion of close binaries, including members of high-order hierarchies and Hipparcos pairs in the solar neighborhood. We give a list of …
The results of speckle interferometric observations at the 4.1 m SOAR telescope in 2016 and 2017 are given, totaling 2483 measurements of 1570 resolved pairs and 609 non-resolutions. We describe briefly recent changes in the instrument and observing method and quantify the accuracy of the pixel scale and position angle calibration. Comments are given on 44 pairs resolved here for the first time. Orbital motion of the newly resolved subsystem BU~83 Aa,Ab roughly agrees with its 36 year astrometric orbit proposed by J.~Dommanget. Most Tycho binaries examined here turned out to be spurious.
We report high resolution optical speckle observations of 336 M dwarfs which result in 113 measurements of relative position of 80 systems and 256 other stars with no indications of duplicity. These are the first measurements for two of the systems. We also present the earliest measures of relative position for 17 others. We include orbits for six of the systems, two revised and four reported for the first time. For one of the systems with a new orbit, G 161-7, we determine masses of 0.156 +/- 0.011 and 0.1175 +/-0.0079 \msun for the A and B components, respectively. All six of these new calcu…
The Solar Neighborhood LIV: 54 Orbits of M Dwarf Multiples within 30 Parsecs with Speckle Interferometry at SOAR
Five College Astronomy Department, Smith College(史密斯学院五校天文系);RECONS Institute(RECONS研究所);Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory — NSF’s NOIRLab(塞罗托洛洛美际观测台—NSF的NOIRLab);Bridgewater State University(布里奇沃特州立大学);Department of Physics and Astronomy, Georgia State University(佐治亚州立大学物理与天文学系);Department of Physics, Southern Connecticut State University(南康涅狄格州立大学物理系)
The results of speckle interferometric observations at the 4.1 m Southern Astrophysical Research Telescope (SOAR) in 2018 are given, totaling 3097 measurements of 2427 resolved pairs with separations from 11 mas to 5.9" (median 0.15", magnitude difference up to 7 mag) and non-resolutions of 624 targets. This work continues our long-term speckle program. Its main goal is to monitor orbital motion of close binaries, including members of high-order hierarchies and Hipparcos pairs in the solar neighborhood. Also, pre-main-sequence stars in the Orion OB1 association were surveyed, resolving 26 out …
We have obtained the highest resolution images available of TRAPPIST-1 using the Gemini-South telescope and our speckle imaging camera. Observing at 692 and 883 nm, we reached the diffraction limit of the telescope providing a best resolution of 27 mas or, at the distance of TRAPPIST-1, a spatial resolution of 0.32 AU. Our imaging of the star extends from 0.32 to 14.5 AU. We show that to a high confidence level, we can exclude all possible stellar and brown dwarf companions, indicating that TRAPPIST-1 is a single star.
We present high-resolution speckle interferometric imaging observations of TESS exoplanet host stars using the NN-EXPLORE NESSI instrument the at the 3.5-m WIYN telescope. Eight TOIs, that were originally discovered by Kepler, were previously observed using the Differential Speckle Survey Instrument (DSSI). Speckle observations of 186 TESS stars were carried out and 45 (24%) likely bound companions were detected. This is approximately the number of companions we would expect to observe given the established 46% binarity rate in exoplanet host stars. For the detected binaries, the distribution …
The orbits of 8 systems with low-mass components (HIP 14524, HIP 16025, HIP 28671, HIP 46199, HIP 47791, HIP 60444, HIP 61100 and HIP 73085) are presented. Speckle interferometric data were obtained at the 6 m Big Alt-azimuth Special Astrophysical Observatory of the Russian Academy of Sciences (BTA SAO RAS) from 2007 to 2019. New data, together with measures already in the literature, made it possible to improve upon previous orbital solutions in six cases and to construct orbits for the first time in the two remaining cases (HIP 14524 and HIP 60444). Mass sums are obtained using both Hipparco…
We present 248 speckle observations of 43 binary and 19 trinary star systems chosen to make progress in two main areas of investigation: the fundamental properties of metal poor stars and star formation mechanisms. The observations were taken at the Gemini North and South telescopes during the period 2015 July to 2018 April, mainly with the Differential Speckle Survey Instrument (DSSI), but also with a few early results from the new 'Alopeke speckle camera at Gemini North. We find that the astrometry and photometry of these observations as a whole are consistent with previous work at Gemini. W…
Statistical characterization of secondary subsystems in binaries helps to distinguish between various scenarios of multiple-star formation. The DSSI speckle instrument was used at the Gemini-N telescope for several hours in 2015 July to probe binarity of 25 secondary components in nearby solar-type binaries. Six new subsystems were resolved, with meaningful detection limits for the remaining targets. The large incidence of secondary subsystems agrees with other similar studies. The newly resolved subsystem HIP 115417 Ba,Bb causes deviations in the observed motion of the outer binary from which…
The results of 4,747 intensified CCD observations of double stars, made with the 26-inch refractor of the U.S. Naval Observatory, are presented. Each observation of a system represents a combination of over two thousand short-exposure images. These observations are averaged into 2,667 mean relative positions and range in separation from 0.328" to 95.9", with a median separation of 8.673". Four orbits are improved. This is the 22nd in this series of papers and covers the period 4 January 2016 through 29 December 2016.
We present the first results of a multi-year program to map the orbits of M dwarf multiples within 25 parsecs. The observations were conducted primarily during 2019 - 2020 using speckle interferometry at the Southern Astrophysical Research (SOAR) Telescope in Chile, using the High-Resolution Camera mounted on the adaptive optics module (HRCam+SAM). The sample of nearby M dwarfs is drawn from three sources: multiples from the RECONS long-term astrometric monitoring program at the SMARTS 0.9m, known multiples for which these new observations will enable or improve orbit fits, and candidate multi…
The results of speckle interferometric observations at the 4.1 m Southern Astrophysical Research Telescope (SOAR) in 2020, as well as earlier unpublished data, are given, totaling 1735 measurements of 1288 resolved pairs and non-resolutions of 1177 targets. We resolved for the first time 59 new pairs or subsystems in known binaries, mostly among nearby dwarf stars. This work continues our long-term speckle program. Its main goal is to monitor orbital motion of close binaries, including members of high-order hierarchies and Hipparcos pairs in the solar neighborhood. We also report observations …
The results of 3,989 intensified CCD observations of double stars, made with the 26-inch refractor of the U.S. Naval Observatory, are presented. Each observation of a system represents a combination of over two thousand short-exposure images. These observations are averaged into 1,911 mean relative positions and range in separation from 0.289 to 128.638, with a median separation of 8.669. Four orbits are improved. This is the 23rd in this series of papers and covers the period 4 January 2017 through 13 September 2017.
We present results from Speckle inteferometric observations of fifteen visual binaries and one double-line spectroscopic binary, carried out with the HRCam Speckle camera of the SOAR 4.1 m telescope. These systems were observed as a part of an on-going survey to characterize the binary population in the solar vicinity, out to a distance of 250 parsec. We obtained orbital elements and mass sums for our sample of visual binaries. The orbits were computed using a Markov Chain Monte Carlo algorithm that delivers maximum likelihood estimates of the parameters, as well as posterior probability densi…
Detecting New Visual Binaries in Gaia DR3 with Gaia and Two Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS) Photometry II. Speckle Observations of 16 Low-Separation Systems
We report on speckle observations of binary stars carried out at the WIYN Telescope over the period from September 2010 through February 2012, providing relative astrometry for 2521 observations of 883 objects, 856 of which are double stars and 27 of which are triples. The separations measured span a range of 0.01 to 1.75 arc seconds. Wavelengths of 562 nm, 692 nm, and 880 nm were used, and differential photometry at one or more of these wavelengths is presented in most cases. Sixty-six components were resolved for the first time. We also estimate detection limits at 0.2 and 1.0 arc seconds fo…
We present high angular resolution imaging observations of 517 host stars of TESS exoplanet candidates using the `Alopeke and Zorro speckle cameras at Gemini North and South. The sample consists mainly of bright F, G, K stars at distances of less than 500 pc. Our speckle observations span angular resolutions of ~20 mas out to 1.2 arcsec, yielding spatial resolutions of <10 to 500 AU for most stars, and our contrast limits can detect companion stars 5-9 magnitudes fainter than the primary at optical wavelengths. We detect 102 close stellar companions and determine the separation, magnitude diff…
The orbit of the visual-speckle binary A 2801 (HD 26441) was calculated independently of the previously published double-lined spectroscopic solution, obtaining similar values for the common orbital elements. In this way, it has been possible to provide a consistent 3D orbit and precise values for both the orbital parallax and the individual masses of the components, so the physical properties of this stellar system are determined.
The results of speckle interferometric observations at the SOAR telescope in 2015 are given, totalling 1303 measurements of 924 resolved binary and multiple stars and non-resolutions of 260 targets. The separations range from 12 mas to 3.37" (median 0.17"); the maximum measured magnitude difference is 6.7 mag. We resolved 27 pairs for the first time, including 10 as inner or outer subsystems in previously known binaries, e.g. the 50-mas pair in Epsilon Cha. Newly resolved pairs are commented upon. We discuss three apparently non-hierarchical systems discovered in this series, arguing that thei…
We report 370 measures of 170 components of binary and multiple star systems, obtained from speckle imaging observations made with the Differential Speckle Survey Instrument at Lowell Observatory's Discovery Channel Telescope in 2015 through 2017. Of the systems studied, 147 are binary stars, 10 are seen as triple systems, and 1 quadruple system is measured. Seventy-six high-quality non-detections and fifteen newly resolved components are presented in our observations. The uncertainty in relative astrometry appears to be similar to our previous work at Lowell, namely linear measurement uncerta…
Precision Astrometry of a Sample of Speckle Binaries and Multiples with the Adaptive Optics Facilities at the Hale and Keck II Telescopes
我们使用200英寸Hale和10 m Keck II的自适应光学设施,在近红外波段观察到了12颗联星和多星以及一个疏散星团的样本。我们使用这些系统的近衍射极限图像来测量它们的组件之间的相对间距和位置角。本文研究了差色折射和碎片畸变对相对天体测量的影响,并进行了修正。在一个晚上,我们实现了天体测量精度通常远低于1毫弧秒,偶尔小到40微弧秒。这样的精度原则上足以对附近双星和多星组成部分周围的行星质量天体进行天体测量。由于我们还没有足够大的数据集的恒星观测样本来检测行星,我们提供了行星质量的天体的基础上获得的天体测量精度的限制。
Astronomers have been measuring the separations and position angles between the two components of binary stars since William Herschel began his observations in 1781. In 1970, Anton Labeyrie pioneered a method, speckle interferometry, that overcomes the usual resolution limits induced by atmospheric turbulence by taking hundreds or thousands of short exposures and reducing them in Fourier space. Our 2022 automation of speckle interferometry allowed us to use a fully robotic 1.0-meter PlaneWave Instruments telescope, located at the El Sauce Observatory in the Atacama Desert of Chile, to obtain o…
The speckle interferometry program at the the 4.1 m Southern Astrophysical Research Telescope (SOAR), started in 2008, now accumulated over 30,300 individual observations of 12,700 distinct targets. Its main goal is to monitor orbital motion of close binaries, including members of high-order hierarchies and low-mass dwarfs in the solar neighborhood. The results from 2021 are published here, totaling 2,623 measurements of 2,123 resolved pairs and non-resolutions of 763 targets. The median measured separation is 0.21", and 75 pairs were closer than 30 mas. The calibration of scale and orientatio…
The 24 Aqr triple system: A closer look at its unique high-eccentricity hierarchical architecture
Al-Hussein Bin Talal University(侯赛因·本·塔拉勒大学);University of Sharjah(沙迦大学);Sharjah Academy for Astronomy, Space Sciences and Technology(沙迦天文学、空间科学与技术学院);Al al-Bayt University(阿尔拜特大学);Southern Connecticut State University(南康涅狄格州立大学);New York University Abu Dhabi(纽约大学阿布扎比分校)
We conducted speckle imaging observations of 53 stellar systems that were members of long-term radial velocity (RV) monitoring campaigns and exhibited substantial accelerations indicative of planetary or stellar companions in wide orbits. Our observations were made with blue and red filters using the Differential Speckle Survey Instrument at Gemini-South and the NN-Explore Exoplanet Stellar Speckle Imager at the WIYN telescope. The speckle imaging identifies eight luminous companions within two arcseconds of the primary stars. In three of these systems (HD 1388, HD 87359, and HD 104304), the p…
HIP 53731 is a binary consisting of stars of the spectral types K0 and K9. Orbit of this object was constructed previously by Cvetkovi'c et al. (2016) and improved by Tokovinin (2019). It should be noted that there is an 180 degree ambiguity in the position angles of some published measurements. Speckle interferometric observations were obtained in 2007-2020 (21 measurements) at the 6-m telescope of the SAO RAS (BTA) by the authors of this article. The analysis of new data together with previously published ones made it possible to construct the accurate orbit of HIP 53731 and to halve the alr…
The POKEMON Speckle Survey of Nearby M Dwarfs. III. The Stellar Multiplicity Rate of M Dwarfs within 15 pc
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology(加州理工学院喷气推进实验室);NASA Exoplanet Science Institute, IPAC, California Institute of Technology(NASA系外行星科学研究所,IPAC,加州理工学院);Lowell Observatory(洛厄尔天文台);Southern Connecticut State University(南康涅狄格州立大学);Bridgewater State University(布里奇沃特州立大学);NSF’s National Optical-Infrared Astronomy Research Laboratory(美国国家光学-红外天文研究实验室);Gemini Observatory/NSF’s NOIRLab(吉米尼天文台/美国国家光学红外天文实验室)
Finding the elusive RR Lyrae companions via speckle imaging
Nicolaus Copernicus Astronomical Center, Polish Academy of Sciences(波兰科学院尼古拉·哥白尼天体物理中心);Gemini Observatory/NSF’s NOIRLab(Gemini 天文台 / NSF 的 NOIRLab);European Southern Observatory(欧洲南方天文台);Instituto de Física y Astronomía, Universidad de Valparaíso(瓦尔帕莱索大学物理与天文学研究所);Institute of Astrophysics, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile(智利天主教大学天体物理研究所);Centro de Astroingeniería, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile(智利天主教大学天体工程中心);NASA Ames Research Center(美国宇航局艾姆斯研究中心);Institute of Astronomy, Faculty of Physics, Astronomy and Informatics, Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń(托伦尼古拉·哥白尼大学物理、天文学和信息技术学院天体物理研究所)
The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) is conducting a two-year wide-field survey searching for transiting exoplanets around nearby bright stars that will be ideal for follow-up characterization. To facilitate studies of planet compositions and atmospheric properties, accurate and precise planetary radii need to be derived from the transit light curves. Since 40 - 50% of exoplanet host stars are in multiple star systems, however, the observed transit depth may be diluted by the flux of a companion star, causing the radius of the planet to be underestimated. High angular resolution im…
The results of the study of the binary HIP 18856 and construction of its orbit are presented. New observational data obtained at the BTA of SAO RAS in 2007-2019. Earlier Cvetkovi'c et al. (2016) constructed orbit for this system. However, it is based on 6 measurements, which cover a small part of the orbit. The positional parameters of the Hipparcos (ESA 1997) astrometric satellite, published speckle interferometric data (Mason et al. 1999; Balega et al. 2006, 2007; Horch et al. 2012, 2017) and new ones were used in this study. Based on the new orbital parameters, the mass sum was calculated, …