QZ Carinae—Orbit of the Two Binary Pairs
Volume 48 number 1 (2020)
- Mark Blackford
- Variable Stars South (VSS), Congarinni Observatory, Congarinni, NSW, Australia 2447; markgblackford@outlook.com
- Stan Walker
- Variable Stars South (VSS), Wharemaru Observatory, Waiharara, Northland, New Zealand 0486
- Edwin Budding
- Variable Stars South (VSS), Carter Observatory, Kelburn, Wellington, New Zealand 6012
- Greg Bolt
- Variable Stars South (VSS), Craigie Observatory, Craigie, WA, Australia 6025
- Dave Blane
- Variable Stars South (VSS), and Astronomical Society of Southern Africa (ASSA), Henley Observatory, Henley on Klip, Gauteng, South Africa
- Terry Bohlsen
- Variable Stars South (VSS), and Southern Astro Spectroscopy Email Ring (SASER), Mirranook Observatory, Armidale, NSW, Australia, 2350
- Anthony Moffat
- BRITE Team, Département de physique, Université de Montréal, CP 6128, Succursale Centre-Ville, Montréal, QC H3C 3J7, Canada
- Herbert Pablo
- BRITE Team, American Association of Variable Star Observers, 49 Bay State Road, Cambridge, MA 02138
- Andrzej Pigulski
- BRITE Team, Instytut Astronomiczny, Uniwersytet Wrocławski, Wrocław, Poland
- Adam Popowicz
- BRITE Team, Department of Automatic Control, Electronics and Informatics, Silesian University of Technology, Gliwice, Poland
- Gregg Wade
- BRITE Team, Department of Physics and Space Science, Royal Military College of Canada, P.O. Box 17000, Station Forces, Kingston, ON K7K 7B4, Canada
- Konstanze Zwintz
- BRITE Team, Universität Innsbruck, Institut für Astro- und Teilchenphysik, Technikerstrasse 25, A-6020 Innsbruck, Austria
Abstract
We present an updated O–C diagram of the light-time variations of the eclipsing binary (component B) in the system QZ Carinae as it moves in the long-period orbit around the non-eclipsing pair (component A). This includes new Variable Stars South members’ measures from 2017 to 2019, BRITE satellite observations in 2017 and 2018, and 100 previously unpublished measures made at Auckland Observatory from 1974 to 1978. We conclude that QZ Carinae has not yet completed one orbit of the two pairs since discovery in 1971. The duration of totality of primary eclipses was measured to be 0.295 ± 0.02 day (7.08 ± 0.48 hours), rather longer than earlier values from light curve models. Other observational findings include the shape of primary and secondary eclipses and small-scale short-term brightness changes.