Short Period Eclipsing sdB Binaries and the Claims for Circumbinary Objects (Abstract)
Volume 46 number 2 (2018)
- George Faillace
- Elmore Goring Road, Woodcote, Oxfordshire RG8 0QE, United Kingdom; gfaillace2@aol.com
- D. Pulley
- address correspondence to: G. Faillace, Elmore Goring Road, Woodcote, Oxfordshire RG8 0QE, United Kingdom; gfaillace2@aol.com
- D. Smith
- address correspondence to: G. Faillace, Elmore Goring Road, Woodcote, Oxfordshire RG8 0QE, United Kingdom; gfaillace2@aol.com
- A. Watkins
- address correspondence to: G. Faillace, Elmore Goring Road, Woodcote, Oxfordshire RG8 0QE, United Kingdom; gfaillace2@aol.com
- S. von Harrach
- address correspondence to: G. Faillace, Elmore Goring Road, Woodcote, Oxfordshire RG8 0QE, United Kingdom; gfaillace2@aol.com
Abstract
(Abstract only) It is well known that two orbiting objects do so around a common center of gravity, or barycenter. What is less well appreciated is that this forms the basis of a powerful astrophysical binary star research tool of which amateurs can make use of as much as their professional colleagues. Our group used this technique to investigate if seemingly periodic variations in the position of the barycenter of seven short period (typically 2–3 hours) sub-dwarf (sdBs) eclipsing binary systems could indicate the presence of circumbinary objects: planets or brown dwarfs. Following our 246 new observations made between 2013 September and 2017 July using a worldwide network of telescopes, we found that some systems showed possible cyclical variation over the short term, but did not follow predictions. Only observations made over a very long timescale can resolve this and this is where amateur astronomers can make a significant scientific contribution. Full details of our paper entitled: “The quest for stable circumbinary companions to post-common envelope sdB eclipsing binaries? Does the observational evidence support their existence?” can be found in the March 2018 Astronomy and Astrophysics Journal freely available via the arXiv portal (https://arxiv.org/abs/1711.03749).