Classical Cepheid Masses: U Aquilae*

Nancy Remage Evans; Erika Böhm-Vitense; Kenneth Carpenter; Bernhard Beck-Winchatz; Richard Robinson

doi:10.1086/305242

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Classical Cepheid Masses: U Aquilae^*

Nancy Remage Evans¹, Erika Böhm-Vitense², Kenneth Carpenter³, Bernhard Beck-Winchatz⁴, and Richard Robinson⁵

© 1998. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved. Printed in U.S.A.
The Astrophysical Journal, Volume 494, Number 2 Citation Nancy Remage Evans et al 1998 ApJ 494 768 DOI 10.1086/305242

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Author affiliations

¹ Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138

² Astronomy Department, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195

³ Laboratory for Astronomy and Solar Physics, NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center, Code 681, Greenbelt, MD, 20771

⁴ Astronomy Department, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195

⁵ Astronomy Programs, Computer Sciences Corporation, NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center, Code 681/CSC, Greenbelt, MD, 20771

Dates

Received 1997 July 21
Accepted 1997 October 1

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Abstract

We have obtained medium-resolution spectra (λ/Δλ ~ 20,000) of the hot binary companion to the classical Cepheid U Aql with the Goddard High Resolution Spectrograph on the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). These have been used to determine the orbital velocity amplitude. Combining this with the orbital velocity amplitude of the Cepheid from the ground-based orbit and the mass of the companion inferred from its spectral type, we measure a mass of the Cepheid of 5.1 ± 0.7 M_☉. We discuss the full sample of Cepheids for which we have determined masses with HST (S Mus, V350 Sgr, Y Car, and U Aql) and also SU Cyg (mass from IUE). The HST masses are in agreement with the luminosities predicted by recent evolutionary tracks with moderate overshoot. This comparison, however, may be altered by reassessment of Cepheid distances based on Hipparcos parallaxes.

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Footnotes

*
Based on observations made with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, obtained at the Space Telescope Science Institute, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., under NASA contract NASA-26555.

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