Abstract
Long-baseline optical interferometry has made it possible to measure the visual orbits of binary stars with major axes as small as 5 mas and errors of ≲ 100 μas. Interferometers now nearing completion will extend these values to ≳ 500 μas and σa ∼ 10 μas. Observations of double-lined spectroscopic binaries with current interferometers have already yielded some mass estimates with precisions rivaling those from fitting the light curves of eclipsing double-lined systems. Luminosity estimates based on combined visual interferometric observations and velocity curves are often more precise than those from more indirect methods based on estimates of Teff. New interferometers now coming into operation will make it possible to measure fundamental parameters in dozens to hundreds of binary systems.
Publisher
Cambridge University Press (CUP)
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