2006/11/20 by Markus Janson, M. Janson, W. Brandner +11 · 2 citations
Mathematics · Physics and Astronomy · #Astronomy #Astronomy and Astrophysical Research #Astrophysics #Astrophysics and Star Formation Studies #Benchmark (surveying) #Binary number #Geodesy #Geology #Low Mass #Mathematics #Photometry (optics) #Physics #Stars #Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1051/0004-6361:20066208
7 pages, 6 figures, accepted for publication in A&A
arxiv created 2006/11/20 · openalex publication_date 2006/11/20 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2016/10/07 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
We present resolved NACO photometry of the close binary AB Dor B in H- and Ks-band. AB Dor B is itself known to be a wide binary companion to AB Dor A, which in turn has a very low-mass close companion named AB Dor C. These four known components make up the young and dynamically interesting system AB Dor, which will likely become a benchmark system for calibrating theoretical pre-main sequence evolutionary mass tracks for low-mass stars. However, for this purpose the actual age has to be known, and this subject has been a matter of discussion in the recent scientific literature. We compare our resolved photometry of AB Dor Ba and Bb with theoretical and empirical isochrones in order to constrain the age of the system. This leads to an age estimate of about 50 to 100 Myr. We discuss the implications of such an age range for the case of AB Dor C, and compare with other results in the literature.