A spectroscopic and photometric study of 12 BM Camelopardalis

The Astronomical Journal1995Vol. 109, pp. 1277–1277

Abstract

Radial velocities from 1916.95 to 1991.95 and photometry from l979.25, both published and new in this paper, are presented and analyzed. A new solution of the radial velocity curve reveals a new period of 80.90 days and an eccentricity of e = 0.05 +/- 0.02, both very different from the 80.17 days and 0.35 found by Abt et al. (1969). An alternative solution with e = 0 is given because we cannot decide firmly whether or not the small eccentricity is real. We find V sin i = 11.3 +/- 0.3 km/s from Maidanak and 10 unequal depth. 0.048 mins and 0.026 mins. The orbital ephemeris for conjunction (K gisnt behind) is JD(hel.) 2,448,111.1 (+/- 0.4 days ) + 80.898 days (+/- 0.004 days ) E, consistent with both the radial velocities and the photometry. With the ellipticity effect removed, the light curve shows residual variability which we fit with a two-spot model. During the 13 years covered by photometry there were nine different starspots, the largest one producing a light loss of 0.19 mins. Rotation periods for the nine spots ranged from 78.6 +/- 0.5 days to 83.7 +/- 0.4 days from which we concluded that the K giant does rotate synchronously but with a differential rotation coefficient of k = 0.06 +/- 0.01. Lifetimes for the nine spots ranged from 1.1 to greater than 4.2 yr and were consistent with the empirical spot lifetime laws of Hall & Henry (1994). Use of the mass function, the orbital period, the V sin i, the two different ellipticity effect amplitudes, and various logical constraints led to ranges of possible masses, radii and inclinations. The most believable solution was around i = 90 deg, R₁ = 24 solar radii, M₁ = 1.1 solar mass, and M₂ = 0.6 solar mass. THe Rossby number for the K giant is 0.48, small enough compared to the critical value of 0.65 to explain why, though rotating 'slowly', it does have large spots.

Abstract

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