Bibcode
Jao, W.-C.; Herrero, A.; DeGioia-Eastwood, K.; Wallace, D. J.; Gies, D. R.; Nelan, E. P.; Caballero-Nieves, S. M.; Walborn, N. R.; Moffat, A. F. J.; Massey, P.; Mason, B. D.
Bibliographical reference
The Astronomical Journal, Volume 147, Issue 2, article id. 40, 11 pp. (2014).
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2
2014
Citations
37
Refereed citations
33
Description
We present results of a high angular resolution survey of massive OB
stars in the Cygnus OB2 association that we conducted with the fine
guidance sensor 1R (FGS1r) on the Hubble Space Telescope. FGS1r is able
to resolve binary systems with a magnitude difference ΔV < 4
down to separations as small as 0.''01. The sample includes 58 of the
brighter members of Cyg OB2, one of the closest examples of an
environment containing a large number of very young and massive stars.
We resolved binary companions for 12 targets and confirmed the triple
nature of one other target, and we offer evidence of marginally resolved
companions for two additional stars. We confirm the binary nature of 11
of these systems from complementary adaptive optics imaging
observations. The overall binary frequency in our study is 22% to 26%
corresponding to orbital periods ranging from 20 to 20,000 yr. When
combined with the known short-period spectroscopic binaries, the results
support the hypothesis that the binary fraction among massive stars is
>60%. One of the new discoveries is a companion to the hypergiant
star MT 304 = Cyg OB2-12, and future measurements of orbital motion
should provide mass estimates for this very luminous star.
Related projects
The IACOB project: A new Era in the Study of Galactic OB Stars
IACOB is an ambitious long-term project whose main scientific goal is to provide an unprecedented empirical overview of the main physical properties of Galactic massive O- and B-type stars which can be used as definitive anchor point for our theories of stellar atmospheres, winds, interiors and evolution of massive stars
Sergio
Simón Díaz