First Results with the IOTA3 Imaging Interferometer: The Spectroscopic Binaries λ Virginis and WR 140

J. D. Monnier¹, W. A. Traub², F. P. Schloerb³, R. Millan-Gabet⁴, J.-P. Berger⁵, E. Pedretti², N. P. Carleton², S. Kraus³, M. G. Lacasse², M. Brewer³, S. Ragland², A. Ahearn², C. Coldwell², P. Haguenauer⁶, P. Kern⁵, P. Labeye⁷, L. Lagny⁵, F. Malbet⁵, D. Malin³, P. Maymounkov², S. Morel⁸, C. Papaliolios², K. Perraut⁵, M. Pearlman², I. L. Porro⁹, I. Schanen¹⁰, K. Souccar³, G. Torres², and G. Wallace³

Published 2004 January 29 • © 2004. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved. Printed in U.S.A.
The Astrophysical Journal, Volume 602, Number 1 Citation J. D. Monnier et al 2004 ApJ 602 L57 DOI 10.1086/382213

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Author affiliations

¹ University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, Department of Astronomy, 500 Church Street, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1090

² Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138

³ University of Massachusetts at Amhert, Department of Astronomy, LGRT-B 619E, 710 North Pleasant Street, Amherst, MA 01003-9305

⁴ Michelson Science Center, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA

⁵ Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Grenoble, 414 Rue de la Piscine, F-38400 Saint Martin d'Heres, France

⁶ Alcatel Space Industries, Cannes, France

⁷ LETI-CEA, Grenoble, France

⁸ European Southern Observatory, Karl-Schwarzschild-Strasse 2, D-85748 Garching, Germany

⁹ Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02139-4307

¹⁰ IMEP-INPG, Grenoble, France

Dates

Received 2003 November 14
Accepted 2003 December 22
Published 2004 January 29

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Abstract

We report the first spatially resolved observations of the spectroscopic binaries λ Vir and WR 140, including the debut of aperture-synthesis imaging with the upgraded three-telescope IOTA interferometer. Using IONIC-3, a new integrated optics beam combiner capable of a precise closure phase measurement, short observations were sufficient to extract the angular separation and orientation of each binary system and the component brightness ratio. Most notably, the underlying binary in the prototypical colliding-wind source WR 140 (WC7 + O4/O5) was found to have a separation of ~13 mas with a position angle of 152°, consistent with previous interpretations of the 2001 dust shell ejection only if the Wolf-Rayet star is fainter than the O star at 1.65 μm. We also highlight λ Vir, whose peculiar stellar properties of the Am star components will permit direct testing of current theories of tidal evolution when the full orbit is determined.

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