The Pulsation of χ Cygni Imaged by Optical Interferometry: A Novel Technique to Derive Distance and Mass of Mira Stars
@article{Lacour2009ThePO, title={The Pulsation of $\chi$ Cygni Imaged by Optical Interferometry: A Novel Technique to Derive Distance and Mass of Mira Stars}, author={Sylvestre Lacour and Eric Thi'ebaut and Guy Perrin and Serge Meimon and X. Haubois and Ettore Pedretti and Stephen T. Ridgway and John D. Monnier and J. P. Berger and Peter A. Schuller and H. Woodruff and A. Poncelet and Herv{\'e} Le Coroller and Rafael Millan-Gabet and Marc G. Lacasse and Wesley A. Traub}, journal={The Astrophysical Journal}, year={2009}, volume={707}, pages={632-643} }
We present infrared interferometric imaging of the S-type Mira star χ Cygni. The object was observed at four different epochs in 2005-2006 with the Infrared-Optical Telescope Array optical interferometer (H band). Images show up to 40% variation in the stellar diameter, as well as significant changes in the limb darkening and stellar inhomogeneities. Model fitting gave precise time-dependent values of the stellar diameter, and reveals presence and displacement of a warm molecular layer. The…
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