Event Information
Thursday, Oct. 3, 2024, at Noon
The Jim and Linda Lee Planetarium
Weird Binaries Under Close Surveillance: TU Tau and HD 5501
These two binaries are weird but different. TU Tau was long thought to be a regular carbon star, but its companion is recently being investigated thanks to a Pro-Am group. It turns out to be the first example of a "massive" Barium dwarf, caught in the act of becoming a Barium giant. The companion's habit of disappearing requires close surveillance of the system.
HD 5501 is an unusual eclipsing binary with a light curve that does not repeat exactly from one cycle to the next. The system is under strong suspicion of harboring a hotspot on the secondary's disk that shows dynamical chaos, and of defying the usual change of period with mass loss. Again, close surveillance by the Pro-Am group is needed.
About the Speaker
Christopher Corbally is a Jesuit priest of the British Province, emeritus vice director of the Vatican Observatory and an adjunct astronomer at the University of Arizona. His doctorate in Astronomy is from the University of Toronto. He was a project scientist for building the Vatican Advanced Technology Telescope in Arizona and pursues his interest in stars primarily through spectroscopy there.