Ole Romer's method still on the stage. The study of two bound eclipsing binaries in quintuple system V994 Her

Abstract

More than three hundred years ago, Ole Romer measured the speed of light only by observing the periodic shifting of the observed eclipse arrival times of Jupiter's moons arising from the varying Earth-Jupiter distance. The same method of measuring the periodic modulation of delays is still used in astrophysics. The ideal laboratories for this effect are eclipsing binaries. The unique system V994 Her consists of two eclipsing binaries orbiting each other. However, until now it was not certain whether these are gravitationally bound and what their orbital period is. We show that the system is in fact quintuple and the two eclipsing binaries are orbiting each other with period about 6.3 years. This analysis was made only from studying the periodic modulation of the two periods, when during the periastron passage one binary has an apparently shorter period, while the other one longer, exactly as required by a theory. Additionally, it was found that both inner eclipsing pairs orbit with slightly eccentric orbits undergoing a slow apsidal motions with a period of the order of centuries.

arXiv comment5 pages, 2 tables, 2 figures, published in 2013MNRAS.429.3472Z

References in corpus (4)

• A Catalog of Multiplicity among Bright Stellar Systems
• Period and period change measurements for 143 SuperWASP eclipsing binary candidates near the short-period limit and discovery of a doubly eclipsing quadruple system
• KIC 4247791: A SB4 system with two eclipsing binaries (2EBs)
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Cited by in corpus (5)

• Catalogue and Properties of δ Scuti Stars in Binaries
• Updated study of the quintuple system V994 Herculis
• The quadruple-lined, doubly-eclipsing system V482 Persei
• The complex dynamical past and future of double eclipsing binary CzeV343: misaligned orbits and period resonance
• Say hello to Algol's new companion candidates