Revisiting the orbital motion of WR 138

Stars: Early-type; Stars: Individual: WR 138; Stars: Massive; Stars: Wolf–Rayet; Instrumentation; Astronomy and Astrophysics; Space and Planetary Science; astro-ph.SR

Abstract :

[en] The optical spectrum of WR 138 exhibits emission lines typical of a WN6o star and absorption lines from a rapidly-rotating OB star. Using a large set of spectroscopic data, we establish a new orbital solution of the WN6o star based on the radial velocities of highly-ionized nitrogen lines. We show that the WN6o star moves on a 4.3 yr orbit with a comparatively low eccentricity of 0.16. The radial velocities of the OB star display considerable scatter. Our best estimates of the velocities of He I absorption lines result in a mass-ratio of mWN6o/mOB=0.53±0.09. We disentangle the spectra of the two stars and derive a projected rotational velocity of vsini=350±10 km s−1 for the OB star. Our best orbital parameters, combined with the Gaia parallax of WR 138, are at odds with a previous interferometric detection of the companion, suggesting that there is either a bias in this detection or that WR 138 is actually a triple system.

Disciplines :

Space science, astronomy & astrophysics

Author, co-author :

Rauw, Grégor ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Département d'astrophysique, géophysique et océanographie (AGO) > Groupe d'astrophysique des hautes énergies (GAPHE)

Nazé, Yaël ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Département d'astrophysique, géophysique et océanographie (AGO) > Groupe d'astrophysique des hautes énergies (GAPHE)

Gosset, Eric ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Département d'astrophysique, géophysique et océanographie (AGO) > Groupe d'astrophysique des hautes énergies (GAPHE)

Language :

English

Title :

Revisiting the orbital motion of WR 138

Publication date :

November 2023

Journal title :

New Astronomy

ISSN :

1384-1076

eISSN :

1384-1092

Publisher :

Elsevier B.V.

Volume :

104

Pages :

id 102062 (9p)

Peer reviewed :

Peer Reviewed verified by ORBi

Additional URL :

https://api.elsevier.com/content/article/PII:S1384107623000635?httpAccept=text/xml

Funding text :

This work is based on spectra collected with the TIGRE telescope (La Luz, Mexico) and at the Observatoire de Haute Provence (France). TIGRE is a collaboration of Hamburger Sternwarte, the Universities of Hamburg, Guanajuato, and Liège. This publication also uses data obtained with the TESS mission, whose funding is provided by the NASA Explorer Program. We thank the Belgian Federal Science Policy Office (BELSPO) for their support in the framework of the PRODEX Programme. The ADS, CDS and SIMBAD databases were used in this work.

Commentary :

accepted for publication by New Astronomy

Available on ORBi :

since 28 August 2023

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