CU Tauri: A W UMa-type system with a small mass ratio

Authors: Yang, Yulan¹; Liu, Qingyao²

Source: Astrophysics and Space Science, Volume 289, Numbers 1-2, 2004 , pp. 137-145(9)

Publisher: Springer

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Abstract:

New BV light curves and photometric solutions of the W UMa-type contact binaryCU Tau are presented in this paper. From the observations, four times of minimumlight were determined and from the present times of minimum light and thosecollected from the references, a new ephemeris was formed. The O-C diagramof the period change suggests that the orbital period of the system seems tovary. While the B light curve seems to be symmetric, the V light curve appears to exhibit an O’Connell effect, with Maximum I being 0.015 mag. brighter than Maximum II. The light curves are analyzed by means of thelatest version of the Wilson-Devinney code. The results show that CU Tau is A-subtype W UMa contact binary with a small mass ratio q = 0.180. The asymmetryof the light curve is explained by star spot models.

Keywords: star; binary; light curve; photometric solutions

Document Type: Research article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1023/B:ASTR.0000009420.41059.f3

Affiliations: 1: National Astronomical Observatories/Yunnan Observatory, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, Yunnan, China, Email: bily@public.km.yn.cn 2: National Astronomical Observatories/Yunnan Observatory, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, Yunnan, China,

Publication date: 2004-01-01