The Angular Separation of the Components of the Cepheid AW Per

Abstract

The 6.4 day classical Cepheid AW Per is a spectroscopic binary with a period of 40 years. Analyzing the centroids of HST/STIS spectra obtained in November 2001, we have determined the angular separation of the binary system. Although we currently have spatially resolved data for a single epoch in the orbit, the success of our approach opens the possibility of determining the inclination, sini, for the system if the measurements are repeated at additional epochs. Since the system is potentially a double lined spectroscopic binary, the combination of spectroscopic orbits for both components and the visual orbit would give the distance to the system and the masses of its components, thereby providing a direct measurement of a Cepheid mass.

12 pages, accepted version -- minor changes

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