Below is a radial velocity curve of a hypothetical spectroscopic binary star system. The horizontal axis is the phase of the orbit and the vertical axis is the radial velocity in km/s. The period of the system is 10 days and assume that the orbit is viewed edge-on. Also, assume we are dealing with a circular orbit.
- binary 2.png (79.77 KiB) Viewed 1558 times
- Consider the H-alpha 656.28 nm spectral line. When the stars are at maximum separation in the sky, and assuming that the spectral line is visible in the spectrum of each star, what would be the wavelength(s) of this spectral line received at Earth in the composite spectrum?
- Find the ratio between the masses of the stars (expressed as [primary mass]/[secondary mass]).
- Find the total mass of the system.
- Determine the masses of each star.
- Determine the semi-major axis of the system. (the answer is probably a little bit unreasonable)