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V803 Aquilae: A newborn W Ursae Majoris Siamese twin?A complete photometric analysis of BVRI photometry of the physically compact, eclipsing binary V803 Aquilae is presented. Six mean epochs of minimum light were determined from observations covering three primary and three secondary eclipses. A period study covering 54 years of observation or nearly 77,000 orbital revolutions reveals three distinct eras of constant period with two major period jumps of +0.1 s and -0.3 s. The light curves shows that the primary and secondary eclipse depths are identical in V, and are nearly identical in B, R, and I, indicating that the components have nearly the same temperatures. Standard magnitudes were determined and a reddening estimate was made. A simultaneous solution of the four light curves was computed using the Wilson-Devinney synthetic light-curve code. The solution indicates that the system consists of twin approximately K4 stars in shallow contact with a fill-out of approximately 8%. A mass ratio of 1.000 was computed with a negligible temperature difference of only 6 K. Thus, based on our purely photometric solution, V803 Aql is made up of 'Siamese' (contact) twin components. Theory would indicate that the twins have just recently come into contact, and the lack of other equal-mass W Ursae Majoris systems would indicate that it is in a very transient or unusual state.
Document ID
19950041548
Acquisition Source
Legacy CDMS
Document Type
Reprint (Version printed in journal)
External Source(s)
Authors
Samec, Ronald G.
(Millikin Univ. Decatur, IL, United States)
Su, Wen
(Univ. of Kentucky, Lexington, KY United States)
Dewitt, Jason R.
(Butler Univ. Indianapolis, IN, United States)
Date Acquired
August 16, 2013
Publication Date
December 1, 1993
Publication Information
Publication: Astronomical Society of the Pacific, Publications
Volume: 105
Issue: 694
ISSN: 0004-6280
Subject Category
Astronomy
Accession Number
95A73147
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Other

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