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Couleurs, etoiles, temperatures.
The eye is able to distinguish very tiny color differences of contiguous objects (at high light level, cones vision), but it is not a reliable colorimeter. Hot objects (a heated iron rod) emits some red light, a hotter object would provide a yellow-orange light (the filament of a bulb) and a still hotter one a white or even bluish light : this may be at reverse of common life codes, where "red" means hot water and/or danger, and "blue" cool water or cool air. Stars are a good illustration of the link between temperatures and colors. A heated iron rod has a temperature of about 800 K. Let us recall that K is a temperature unit (Kelvin) such that the Kelvin temperature is the Celsius temperature +273).The so called red stars (or cool stars) have temperature around 3000 K, higher than "white-hot iron". The Sun has a still higher temperature (5800 K) and its color is white : the solar light is by definition the "white light", and includes violet, blue, green, yellow, orange and red colors in balanced proportions (the maximum in the yellow-green). It is often said that the Sun is a yellow star. Admittedly, a brief glimpse at the Sun (take care ! never more than a VERY brief glimpse !) provides a perception of yellow light, but such a vision, with the eye overwhelmed by a fierce light, is not able to provide a good evaluation of the solar color : prefer a white sheet of paper illuminated by the Sun at noon and conclude that "the Sun is a white star". It is sometimes asked why red, white and bluish stars are seen in the sky, but no green stars : the solar light has its maximum intensity in the green, but such a dominant green light, equilibrated by some blue and some red light, is what we call "white", so that stars similar to the Sun, with a maximum in the green, are seen as white stars. Faint stars (rods vision of the eye) are also seen as white stars. Spots on the Sun (never look at the Sun ! let us say spots on "projected images of the Sun") appear as black spots : they are in fact bright areas, only slightly less luminous than the undisturbed surface of the Sun, but the eye has a particular of enhancing enormously the contrasts.
| Lithium abundances and rotational behavior for bright giant stars
Aims.We study the links possibly existing between the lithium content ofbright giant stars and their rotational velocity. Methods: .Weperformed a spectral analysis of 145 bright giant stars (luminosityclass II) spanning the spectral range from F3 to K5. All these starshave homogeneous rotational velocity measurements available in theliterature. Results: .For all the stars of the sample, we provideconsistent lithium abundances (A_Li), effective temperatures (T_eff),projected rotational velocity (v sin i), mean metallicity ([Fe/H]),stellar mass, and an indication of the stellar multiplicity. The gradualdecrease in lithium abundance with T_eff is confirmed for bright giantstars, and it points to a dilution factor that is at least assignificant as in giant stars. From the F to K spectral types, the A_Lispans at least three orders of magnitude, reflecting the effects ofstellar mass and evolution on dilution. Conclusions: .We find thatthe behavior of A_Li as a function of v sin i in bright giant starspresents the same trend as is observed in giants and subgiants: starswith high A_Li are moderate or fast rotators, while stars with low A_Lishow a wide range of v sin i values.
| Predicting accurate stellar angular diameters by the near-infrared surface brightness technique
I report on the capabilities of the near-infrared (near-IR) surfacebrightness technique to predict reliable stellar angular diameters asaccurate as <~2 per cent using standard broad-band Johnson photometryin the colour range -0.1 <= (V-K)O<= 3.7 includingstars of A, F, G, K spectral type. This empirical approach is fast toapply and leads to estimated photometric diameters in very goodagreement with recent high-precision interferometric diametermeasurements available for non-variable dwarfs and giants, as well asfor Cepheid variables. Then I compare semi-empirical diameters predictedby model-dependent photometric and spectrophotometric (SP) methods withnear-IR surface brightness diameters adopted as empirical referencecalibrators. The overall agreement between all these methods is withinapproximately +/-5 per cent, confirming previous works. However, on thesame scale of accuracy, there is also evidence for systematic shiftspresumably as a result of an incorrect representation of the stellareffective temperature in the model-dependent results. I also comparemeasurements of spectroscopic radii with near-IR surface brightnessradii of Cepheids with known distances. Spectroscopic radii are found tobe affected by a scatter as significant as >~9 per cent, which is atleast three times greater than the formal error currently claimed by thespectroscopic technique. In contrast, pulsation radii predicted by theperiod-radius (PR) relation according to the Cepheid period result aresignificantly less dispersed, indicating a quite small scatter as aresult of the finite width of the Cepheid instability strip, as expectedfrom pulsation theory. The resulting low level of noise stronglyconfirms our previous claims that the pulsation parallaxes are the mostaccurate empirical distances presently available for Galactic andextragalactic Cepheids.
| Visual Star Colours from Instrumental Photometry
In order to display graphically the visual colours of stars and otherastronomical objects, photometric broadband R, V, B colours are used toproxy for the r, g, b colours of the three visual sensors of the eye.From photometric Johnson B-V and V-R colour indices, R, V, and Bmagnitudes (V = 0) are calculated, and from these the respectivebrightnesses (r, v = 1 = g, and b) are calculated. After suitablenormalization these are then placed in a ternary diagram having r, g,and b as the vertices. All B-V and V-R are adjusted so that the Sunfalls in the same place as a blackbody at 5800 K. The resulting ternaryplot shows all of its objects (stars, planets) in their visual coloursat their relative positions in the ternary diagram. The star coloursdisplayed on a computer monitor screen or as a print with a colourprinter are more vivid than the usual visual impressions of isolatedstars, undoubtedly because of properties of the dark-adapted eye, butdouble-star pairs with contrasting colours correspond nicely totelescopic visual impressions.
| Caroline Herschel as observer
Not Available
| The epoch of the constellations on the Farnese Atlas and their origin in Hipparchus's lost catalogue
Not Available
| Variability of Stars in the Pulkovo Spectrophotometric Catalog
We present the results of a statistical study of brightness variabilityfor 693 stars of the Pulkovo spectrophotometric database in fivespectral bands in the range λλ 320 1080 nm. Significantbrightness variations were detected in at least one spectral bandagainst the background of the random noise for one-third of the starsnot earlier believed to be variable. A comparison of the distributionsof these variations in amplitude and spectral band for the normal andvariable stars shows that variability is inherent to most stars to someextent and is often wavelength dependent.
| CHARM2: An updated Catalog of High Angular Resolution Measurements
We present an update of the Catalog of High Angular ResolutionMeasurements (CHARM, Richichi & Percheron \cite{CHARM}, A&A,386, 492), which includes results available until July 2004. CHARM2 is acompilation of direct measurements by high angular resolution methods,as well as indirect estimates of stellar diameters. Its main goal is toprovide a reference list of sources which can be used for calibrationand verification observations with long-baseline optical and near-IRinterferometers. Single and binary stars are included, as are complexobjects from circumstellar shells to extragalactic sources. The presentupdate provides an increase of almost a factor of two over the previousedition. Additionally, it includes several corrections and improvements,as well as a cross-check with the valuable public release observationsof the ESO Very Large Telescope Interferometer (VLTI). A total of 8231entries for 3238 unique sources are now present in CHARM2. Thisrepresents an increase of a factor of 3.4 and 2.0, respectively, overthe contents of the previous version of CHARM.The catalog is only available in electronic form at the CDS viaanonymous ftp to cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (130.79.128.5) or via http://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/cgi-bin/qcat?J/A+A/431/773
| Local kinematics of K and M giants from CORAVEL/Hipparcos/Tycho-2 data. Revisiting the concept of superclusters
The availability of the Hipparcos Catalogue has triggered many kinematicand dynamical studies of the solar neighbourhood. Nevertheless, thosestudies generally lacked the third component of the space velocities,i.e., the radial velocities. This work presents the kinematic analysisof 5952 K and 739 M giants in the solar neighbourhood which includes forthe first time radial velocity data from a large survey performed withthe CORAVEL spectrovelocimeter. It also uses proper motions from theTycho-2 catalogue, which are expected to be more accurate than theHipparcos ones. An important by-product of this study is the observedfraction of only 5.7% of spectroscopic binaries among M giants ascompared to 13.7% for K giants. After excluding the binaries for whichno center-of-mass velocity could be estimated, 5311 K and 719 M giantsremain in the final sample. The UV-plane constructed from these datafor the stars with precise parallaxes (σπ/π≤20%) reveals a rich small-scale structure, with several clumpscorresponding to the Hercules stream, the Sirius moving group, and theHyades and Pleiades superclusters. A maximum-likelihood method, based ona Bayesian approach, has been applied to the data, in order to make fulluse of all the available stars (not only those with precise parallaxes)and to derive the kinematic properties of these subgroups. Isochrones inthe Hertzsprung-Russell diagram reveal a very wide range of ages forstars belonging to these groups. These groups are most probably relatedto the dynamical perturbation by transient spiral waves (as recentlymodelled by De Simone et al. \cite{Simone2004}) rather than to clusterremnants. A possible explanation for the presence of younggroup/clusters in the same area of the UV-plane is that they have beenput there by the spiral wave associated with their formation, while thekinematics of the older stars of our sample has also been disturbed bythe same wave. The emerging picture is thus one of dynamical streamspervading the solar neighbourhood and travelling in the Galaxy withsimilar space velocities. The term dynamical stream is more appropriatethan the traditional term supercluster since it involves stars ofdifferent ages, not born at the same place nor at the same time. Theposition of those streams in the UV-plane is responsible for the vertexdeviation of 16.2o ± 5.6o for the wholesample. Our study suggests that the vertex deviation for youngerpopulations could have the same dynamical origin. The underlyingvelocity ellipsoid, extracted by the maximum-likelihood method afterremoval of the streams, is not centered on the value commonly acceptedfor the radial antisolar motion: it is centered on < U > =-2.78±1.07 km s-1. However, the full data set(including the various streams) does yield the usual value for theradial solar motion, when properly accounting for the biases inherent tothis kind of analysis (namely, < U > = -10.25±0.15 kms-1). This discrepancy clearly raises the essential questionof how to derive the solar motion in the presence of dynamicalperturbations altering the kinematics of the solar neighbourhood: doesthere exist in the solar neighbourhood a subset of stars having no netradial motion which can be used as a reference against which to measurethe solar motion?Based on observations performed at the Swiss 1m-telescope at OHP,France, and on data from the ESA Hipparcos astrometry satellite.Full Table \ref{taba1} is only available in electronic form at the CDSvia anonymous ftp to cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (130.79.128.5) or viahttp://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/cgi-bin/qcat?J/A+A/430/165}
| Improved Baade-Wesselink surface brightness relations
Recent, and older accurate, data on (limb-darkened) angular diameters iscompiled for 221 stars, as well as BVRIJK[12][25] magnitudes for thoseobjects, when available. Nine stars (all M-giants or supergiants)showing excess in the [12-25] colour are excluded from the analysis asthis may indicate the presence of dust influencing the optical andnear-infrared colours as well. Based on this large sample,Baade-Wesselink surface brightness (SB) relations are presented fordwarfs, giants, supergiants and dwarfs in the optical and near-infrared.M-giants are found to follow different SB relations from non-M-giants,in particular in V versus V-R. The preferred relation for non-M-giantsis compared to the earlier relation by Fouqué and Gieren (basedon 10 stars) and Nordgren et al. (based on 57 stars). Increasing thesample size does not lead to a lower rms value. It is shown that theresiduals do not correlate with metallicity at a significant level. Thefinally adopted observed angular diameters are compared to thosepredicted by Cohen et al. for 45 stars in common, and there isreasonable overall, and good agreement when θ < 6 mas.Finally, I comment on the common practice in the literature to average,and then fix, the zero-point of the V versus V-K, V versus V-R and Kversus J-K relations, and then rederive the slopes. Such a commonzero-point at zero colour is not expected from model atmospheres for theV-R colour and depends on gravity. Relations derived in this way may bebiased.
| Determination of fundamental characteristics for stars of the F, G, and K spectral types. The surface gravities and metallicity parameters.
Not Available
| Speckle Observations of Binary Stars with the WIYN Telescope. IV. Differential Photometry
Five hundred seventy-six magnitude difference measures are presented for260 binary stars. These measures are derived from CCD-based speckleobservations taken at the WIYN 3.5 m telescope at Kitt Peak NationalObservatory during the period 1997-2000. Separations of the systemsrange from over 1" down to near the diffraction limit of the telescope.A study of multiple measures of the same targets indicates that themeasures have a typical uncertainty of better than 0.13 mag per 2 minuteobservation, and that multiple observations can be averaged to arrive atsmaller uncertainties. Results presented here are also compared, insofaras it is possible, with measures in the Hipparcos Catalogue and toprevious studies using adaptive optics. No major systematic errors wereidentified.The WIYN Observatory is a joint facility of the University ofWisconsin-Madison, Indiana University, Yale University, and the NationalOptical Astronomy Observatory.
| Speckle Observations of Composite Spectrum Stars. II. Differential Photometry of the Binary Components
Multicolor differential photometry measurements of the two components of18 close binary stars, mostly composite spectrum stars, are presented.They are based on observations made at Pic du Midi Observatory with thespeckle camera PISCO between 1993 and 1998. Optical bench experimentswere also performed to assess the validity of the whole process from thedata acquisition with the ICCD detector to the final photometrymeasurements. The results are discussed and compared with (1) Hipparcosand speckle photometry, (2) spectroscopic measurements, and (3)composite spectra computed with a spectral library. Our measurements arein good agreement with other observations. We also determined theevolution stage of the individual components: the absolute visualmagnitudes of the cool giant stars that we found are compatible with thecalibrations made by other authors. This work shows that PISCO is welladapted to efficiently perform relative photometry of close binarystars.Based on observations made with the Télescope Bernard Lyot at thePic du Midi Observatory, France.
| Angular Diameters of Stars from the Mark III Optical Interferometer
Observations of 85 stars were obtained at wavelengths between 451 and800 nm with the Mark III Stellar Interferometer on Mount Wilson, nearPasadena, California. Angular diameters were determined by fitting auniform-disk model to the visibility amplitude versus projected baselinelength. Half the angular diameters determined at 800 nm have formalerrors smaller than 1%. Limb-darkened angular diameters, effectivetemperatures, and surface brightnesses were determined for these stars,and relationships between these parameters are presented. Scatter inthese relationships is larger than would be expected from themeasurement uncertainties. We argue that this scatter is not due to anunderestimate of the angular diameter errors; whether it is due tophotometric errors or is intrinsic to the relationship is unresolved.The agreement with other observations of the same stars at the samewavelengths is good; the width of the difference distribution iscomparable to that estimated from the error bars, but the wings of thedistribution are larger than Gaussian. Comparison with infraredmeasurements is more problematic; in disagreement with models, coolerstars appear systematically smaller in the near-infrared than expected,warmer stars larger.
| The latitude and epoch for the formation of the southern Greek constellations
Not Available
| Spectral Classification of the Hot Components of a Large Sample of Stars with Composite Spectra, and Implication for the Absolute Magnitudes of the Cool Supergiant Components.
A sample of 135 stars with composite spectra has been observed in thenear-UV spectral region with the Aurélie spectrograph at theObservatoire de Haute-Provence. Using the spectral classifications ofthe cool components previously determined with near infrared spectra, weobtained reliable spectral types of the hot components of the samplesystems. The hot components were isolated by the subtraction methodusing MK standards as surrogates of the cool components. We also derivedthe visual magnitude differences between the components usingWillstrop's normalized stellar flux ratios. We propose a photometricmodel for each of these systems on the basis of our spectroscopic dataand the Hipparcos data. We bring to light a discrepancy for the Gsupergiant primaries between the visual absolute magnitudes deduced fromHipparcos parallaxes and those tabulated by Schmidt-Kaler for the GIbstars: we propose a scale of Mv-values for these stars incomposite systems. By way of statistics, about 75% of the hot componentsare dwarf or subgiant stars, and 25% should be giants. The distributionin spectral types is as follows: 41% of B-type components, 57% of typeA, and 2% of type F; 68% of the hot components have a spectral type inthe range B7 to A2. The distribution of the ΔMv-valuesshows a maximum near 0.75 mag.
| Speckle Observations of Composite Spectrum Stars with PISCO in 1993-1998
We present speckle interferometry observations of 47 composite spectrumstars obtained between 1993 and 1998 at the Pic du Midi Observatory withthe PISCO speckle camera. 76% of over 150 independent 10 minutesequences of observations led to a companion detection. Binary componentangular separations ranged from 0.05" to 1.2". We also obtained a seriesof 23 measurements of an additional nine close binaries. PISCOobservations confirm, for the first time since their discovery, theduplicity of HD 29104 (L4), HD 83808 (WGT 1Aa), HD 183912 Aa' (BON Ap),and HD 156729 (HR 6436). Discovered as double by Hipparcos, theparticularly difficult to resolve HD 156729 was observed despite thelarge magnitude difference, Δm=4.2, between its two components.Based on observations made with the Télescope Bernard Lyot at Picdu Midi Observatory, France.
| Speckle Observations of Binary Stars with the WIYN Telescope. II. Relative Astrometry Measures during 1998-2000
Five hundred twelve relative astrometry measures are presented for 253double stars, including 53 double stars discovered by Hipparcos. In 15cases, relative astrometry is reported for the first time for newlyconfirmed pairs. In addition, 20 high-quality nondetections ofcompanions are reported for stars suspected of being nonsingle byHipparcos. Observations were taken using a fast-readout CCD camerasystem at the WIYN 3.5 m telescope at Kitt Peak, Arizona. In comparingthese measures with ephemeris predictions for binary stars with verywell known orbits, we find that the measurement precision is better than3 mas in separation and 1° in position angle per individualobservation. Measurement precision and detection capabilities are fullydiscussed, and confirmed orbital motion is reported in four cases of theHipparcos double star discoveries. The WIYN Observatory is a jointfacility of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Indiana University,Yale University, and the National Optical Astronomy Observatory.
| Catalogue of Apparent Diameters and Absolute Radii of Stars (CADARS) - Third edition - Comments and statistics
The Catalogue, available at the Centre de Données Stellaires deStrasbourg, consists of 13 573 records concerning the results obtainedfrom different methods for 7778 stars, reported in the literature. Thefollowing data are listed for each star: identifications, apparentmagnitude, spectral type, apparent diameter in arcsec, absolute radiusin solar units, method of determination, reference, remarks. Commentsand statistics obtained from CADARS are given. The Catalogue isavailable in electronic form at the CDS via anonymous ftp tocdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (130.79.128.5) or viahttp://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/cgi-bin/qcar?J/A+A/367/521
| Research Note Hipparcos photometry: The least variable stars
The data known as the Hipparcos Photometry obtained with the Hipparcossatellite have been investigated to find those stars which are leastvariable. Such stars are excellent candidates to serve as standards forphotometric systems. Their spectral types suggest in which parts of theHR diagrams stars are most constant. In some cases these values stronglyindicate that previous ground based studies claiming photometricvariability are incorrect or that the level of stellar activity haschanged. Table 2 is only available in electronic form at the CDS viaanonymous ftp to cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (130.79.128.5) or viahttp://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/cgi-bin/qcat?J/A+A/367/297
| The proper motions of fundamental stars. I. 1535 stars from the Basic FK5
A direct combination of the positions given in the HIPPARCOS cataloguewith astrometric ground-based catalogues having epochs later than 1939allows us to obtain new proper motions for the 1535 stars of the BasicFK5. The results are presented as the catalogue Proper Motions ofFundamental Stars (PMFS), Part I. The median precision of the propermotions is 0.5 mas/year for mu alpha cos delta and 0.7mas/year for mu delta . The non-linear motions of thephotocentres of a few hundred astrometric binaries are separated intotheir linear and elliptic motions. Since the PMFS proper motions do notinclude the information given by the proper motions from othercatalogues (HIPPARCOS, FK5, FK6, etc.) this catalogue can be used as anindependent source of the proper motions of the fundamental stars.Catalogue (Table 3) is only available at the CDS via anonymous ftp tocdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (130.79.128.5) or viahttp://cdsweb.u-strastg.fr/cgi-bin/qcat?J/A+A/365/222
| Cyclic variations in the angular diameter of χ Cygni
We report the direct detection of cyclic diameter variations in the Miravariable χ Cygni. Interferometric observations made between 1997July and 1999 September, using the Cambridge Optical Aperture SynthesisTelescope (COAST) and the William Herschel Telescope (WHT), indicateperiodic changes in the apparent angular diameter at a wavelength of905nm, with amplitude 45per cent of the smallest value. The star appearslargest at minimum light. Measurements made at a wavelength of 1.3μmover the same period suggest much smaller size changes. This behaviouris consistent with a model in which most of the apparent diametervariation at 905nm is caused by a large increase in the opacity of theouter atmospheric layers (which is mostly owing to titanium oxide) nearminimum light, rather than by physical motions of the photosphere. The1.3-μm waveband is relatively uncontaminated by TiO, and so muchsmaller size changes would be expected in this band. The latestnon-linear pulsational models predict maximum physical size close tomaximum light, and increases in opacity near minimum light that are toosmall to reproduce the diameter variation seen at 905nm. This suggestseither that the phase-dependence of the model pulsation is incorrect, orthat the opacities in the models are underestimated. Futureinterferometric monitoring in uncontaminated near-infrared wavebandsshould resolve this question.
| Photometric Variability in a Sample of 187 G and K Giants
We have used three automatic photoelectric telescopes to obtainphotometric observations of 187 G, K, and (a few) M0 field giants. Wefind low-amplitude photometric variability on timescales of days toweeks on both sides of the coronal dividing line (CDL) in a total of 81or 43% of the 187 giants. About one-third of the variables haveamplitudes greater than 0.01 mag in V. In our sample the percentage ofvariable giants is a minimum for late-G spectral classes and increasesfor earlier and later classes; all K5 and M0 giants are variable. Wealso obtained high-resolution, red wavelength spectroscopic observationsof 147 of the giants, which we used to determine spectralclassifications, vsini values, and radial velocities. We acquiredadditional high-resolution, blue wavelength spectra of 48 of the giants,which we used to determine chromospheric emission fluxes. We analyzedthe photometric and spectroscopic observations to identify the cause(s)of photometric variability in our sample of giants. We show that thelight variations in the vast majority of G and K giant variables cannotbe due to rotation. For giants on the cool side of the CDL, we find thatthe variability mechanism is radial pulsation. Thus, the variabilitymechanism operating in M giants extends into the K giants up to aboutspectral class K2. On the hot side of the CDL, the variability mechanismis most likely nonradial, g-mode pulsation.
| ICCD Speckle Observations of Binary Stars. XXIII. Measurements during 1982-1997 from Six Telescopes, with 14 New Orbits
We present 2017 observations of 1286 binary stars, observed by means ofspeckle interferometry using six telescopes over a 15 year period from1982 April to 1997 June. These measurements constitute the 23dinstallment in CHARA's speckle program at 2 to 4 m class telescopes andinclude the second major collection of measurements from the MountWilson 100 inch (2.5 m) Hooker Telescope. Orbital elements are alsopresented for 14 systems, seven of which have had no previouslypublished orbital analyses.
| Binary Star Differential Photometry Using the Adaptive Optics System at Mount Wilson Observatory
We present photometric and astrometric results for 36 binary systemsobserved with the natural guide star adaptive optics system of the MountWilson Institute on the 100 inch (2.5 m) Hooker Telescope. Themeasurements consist of differential photometry in U, B, V, R, and Ifilters along with astrometry of the relative positions of systemcomponents. Magnitude differences were combined with absolute photometryfound in the literature of the combined light for systems to obtainapparent magnitudes for the individual components at standardbandpasses, which in turn led to color determinations and spectraltypes. The combination of these results with Hipparcos parallaxmeasurements yielded absolute magnitudes and allowed us to plot thecomponents on an H-R diagram. To further examine the reliability andself-consistency of these data, we also estimated system masses from thespectral types. Based on observations made at Mount Wilson Observatory,operated by the Mount Wilson Institute under an agreement with theCarnegie Institution of Washington.
| Magnitudes absolues des étoiles standards MK des types G à M à partir des parallaxes Hipparcos. The absolute magnitudes of the G to M type MK standards from the Hipparcos parallaxes
We analyse a sample of about 500 MK standards of cool spectral types (Gto M) for to compare the visual absolute magnitudes obtained from bothHipparcos data and Schmidt-Kaler calibrations. Our purpose is tovalidate our spectroscopic work \cite[(Ginestet et al. 1997, 1999)]{G97}on stars with composite spectra with the help of Hipparcos data.Contrary to what is claimed in other papers, the absolute magnitudedomain devoted to the giant stars does not overlap the domain of dwarfs.We find that the discrepancies between absolute magnitudes fromHipparcos data and absolute magnitudes deduced from Schmidt-Kalercalibrations increase with the relative error sigma (pi )/pi on theparallaxes. So, for sigma (pi )/pi <= 0.05 only 3% of the starspresent a discrepancy of one luminosity class, while this percentagereaches 54% for 0.25 < sigma (pi )/pi <= 0.50. Curiously, theluminosity of the giants seems to increase with the distance of thestars, whereas the supergiants of the sample appear underluminous atleast for d < 600 pc! We point out a list of 14 MK standards whoseluminosity classes may be erroneous and need a new spectralclassification, in the near infrared. The case of composite-spectrumbinaries is also discussed. Most of these are too distant for accurateparallaxes even with Hipparcos: only sixteen stars have sigma (pi )/pi<= 0.10; for these, we give new spectral classifications in agreementwith both our classifications in the near infrared of the coolcomponents and Hipparcos data. Finally, for stars having high-precisionparallaxes (sigma (pi )/pi <= 5%) there is no serious problem forSchmidt-Kaler calibrations whith respect to Hipparcos data. The datacorresponding to parallaxes of lower precisions should be used withcaution and only for statistical analyses.
| Two-colour photometry for 9473 components of close Hipparcos double and multiple stars
Using observations obtained with the Tycho instrument of the ESAHipparcos satellite, a two-colour photometry is produced for componentsof more than 7 000 Hipparcos double and multiple stars with angularseparations 0.1 to 2.5 arcsec. We publish 9473 components of 5173systems with separations above 0.3 arcsec. The majority of them did nothave Tycho photometry in the Hipparcos catalogue. The magnitudes arederived in the Tycho B_T and V_T passbands, similar to the Johnsonpassbands. Photometrically resolved components of the binaries withstatistically significant trigonometric parallaxes can be put on an HRdiagram, the majority of them for the first time. Based on observationsmade with the ESA Hipparcos satellite.
| Adaptive Optics Observations of Arcturus using the Mount Wilson 100 Inch Telescope
Upon inspection of the multiple-star results in the Hipparcos catalog,the flag for entry number 69673 particularly stands out; it is Arcturus,for which no companion has been reported previously. The Hipparcoscompanion is reported to be at a separation of 0.255"+/-0.039" with amagnitude difference in a broadband filter (peaked near 460 nm) of3.33+/-0.31. We present recent results using the natural guide staradaptive optics system on the Mount Wilson 100 inch telescope showingArcturus to be a single star.
| Determination of the characteristics of stars of spectral types F,G,K. The effective temperatures.
Not Available
| New orbits.
Not Available
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Observation and Astrometry data
| Constellation: | Schwan |
| Right ascension: | 19h30m43.30s |
| Declination: | +27°57'35.0" |
| Apparent magnitude: | 3.08 |
| Distance: | 118.203 parsecs |
| Proper motion RA: | -1.5 |
| Proper motion Dec: | -1.4 |
| B-T magnitude: | 4.439 |
| V-T magnitude: | 3.186 |
Catalogs and designations:
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INHABITED SKY
