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Possible connection between period change and magnetic activity of the very short‐period binary VZ Piscium
Author(s) -
Qian S. B.,
Soonthornthum B.,
Xiang F. Y.,
Zhu L. Y.,
He J. J.
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
astronomische nachrichten
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.394
H-Index - 63
eISSN - 1521-3994
pISSN - 0004-6337
DOI - 10.1002/asna.200410251
Subject(s) - period (music) , eclipse , orbital period , variation (astronomy) , physics , astrophysics , binary number , amplitude , astronomy , optics , mathematics , stars , acoustics , arithmetic
New times of light minimum of the short‐period ( P = 0 d .26) close binary system, VZ Psc, are presented. A period investigation of the binary star, by combining the three new eclipse times with the others collected from the literatures, shows that the variation of the period might be in an alternate way. Under the hypothesis that the variation of the orbital period is cyclic, a period of 25 years and an amplitude of 0. d 0030 for the cyclic change are determined. If this periodic variation is caused by the presence of a third body, the mass of the third body ( m 3 ) should be no less than 0.081 M ⊙ . Since both components of VZ Psc are strong chromospherically active and the level of activity of the secondary component is higher than that of the primary one, the period may be more plausibly explained by cyclic magnetic activity of the less massive component. (© 2004 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)