2015/03/01 by A. D. Schwope, F. Mackebrandt, B. D. Thinius +4 · 1 citation
Physics and Astronomy · #Astrophysical Phenomena and Observations #Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies #Astrophysics and Star Formation Studies
paper · doi:10.1002/asna.201412151
Abstract The eclipsing polar CSS081231:071126+440405 turned bright ( V max ∼ 14.5) in late 2008 and was subsequently observed intensively with small and medium‐sized telescopes. A homogeneous analysis of this comprehensive dataset comprising 109 eclipse epochs is presented and a linear ephemeris covering the five years of observations, about 24000 orbital cycles, is derived. Formally this sets rather tight constraints on the mass of a hypothetical circumbinary planet, M pl ≤ 2 M Jup . This preliminary result needs consolidation by long‐term monitoring of the source. The eclipse lasts 433.08 ± 0.65 s, and the orbital inclination is found to be i = 79.3°–83.7°. The centre of the bright phase displays accretion‐rate dependent azimuthal shifts. No accretion geometry is found that explains all observational constraints, suggesting a complex accretion geometry with possible pole switches and a likely non‐dipolar field geometry. (© 2015 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)