G. Sadowski

Large-scale environments of binary AGB stars probed by Herschel: II. Two companions interacting with the wind of π 1 Gruis

Context. The Mass loss of Evolved StarS (MESS) sample observed with PACS on board the Herschel Space Observatory revealed that several asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars are surrounded by an asymmetric circumstellar envelope (CSE) whose morphology is most likely caused by the interaction with a stellar companion. The evolution of AGB stars in binary systems plays a crucial role in understanding the formation of asymmetries in planetary nebulae (PNe), but at present, only a handful of cases are known where the interaction of a companion with the stellar AGB wind is observed. Aims. We probe the environment of the very evolved AGB star π 1 Gruis on large and small scales to identify the triggers of the observed asymmetries. Methods. Observations made with Herschel/PACS at 70 μm and 160 μm picture the large-scale environment of π 1 Gru. The close surroundings of the star are probed by interferometric observations from the VLTI/AMBER archive. An analysis of the proper motion data of Hipparcos and Tycho-2 together with the Hipparcos Intermediate Astrometric Data help identify the possible cause for the observed asymmetry. Results. The Herschel/PACS images of π 1 Gru show an elliptical CSE whose properties agree with those derived from a CO map published in the literature. In addition, an arc east of the star is visible at a distance of 38 �� from the primary. This arc is most likely part of an Archimedean spiral caused by an already known G0V companion that is orbiting the primary at a projected distance of 460 au with a period of more than 6200 yr. However, the presence of the elliptical CSE, proper motion variations, and geometric modelling of the VLTI/AMBER observations point towards a third component in the system, with an orbital period shorter than 10 yr, orbiting much closer to the primary than the G0V star.

Large granulation cells on the surface of the giant star π 1 Gruis

Convection plays a major part in many astrophysical processes, including energy transport, pulsation, dynamos and winds on evolved stars, in dust clouds and on brown dwarfs. Most of our knowledge about stellar convection has come from studying the Sun: about two million convective cells with typical sizes of around 2,000 kilometres across are present on the surface of the Sun—a phenomenon known as granulation. But on the surfaces of giant and supergiant stars there should be only a few large (several tens of thousands of times larger than those on the Sun) convective cells, owing to low surface gravity. Deriving the characteristic properties of convection (such as granule size and contrast) for the most evolved giant and supergiant stars is challenging because their photospheres are obscured by dust, which partially masks the convective patterns. These properties can be inferred from geometric model fitting, but this indirect method does not provide information about the physical origin of the convective cells. Here we report interferometric images of the surface of the evolved giant star π1 Gruis, of spectral type S5,7. Our images show a nearly circular, dust-free atmosphere, which is very compact and only weakly affected by molecular opacity. We find that the stellar surface has a complex convective pattern with an average intensity contrast of 12 per cent, which increases towards shorter wavelengths. We derive a characteristic horizontal granule size of about 1.2 × 1011 metres, which corresponds to 27 per cent of the diameter of the star. Our measurements fall along the scaling relations between granule size, effective temperature and surface gravity that are predicted by simulations of stellar surface convection.

Towards a fully automated eclipsing binary solver for Gaia

Gaia, an ESA cornerstone mission, will obtain of the order of 100 high-precision photometric observations and lower precision radial velocity measurements over five years for around a billion stars - several hundred thousand of which will be eclipsing binaries. In order to extract the characteristics of these systems, a fully automated code must be available. During the process of this development, two tools that may be of use to the transit community have emerged: a very fast, simple, detached eclipsing binary simulator/solver based on a new approach and an interacting eclipsing binary simulator with most of the features of the Wilson-Devinney and Nightfall codes, but fully documented and written in easy-to-follow and highly portable Java. Currently undergoing development and testing, this code includes an intuitive graphical interface and an optimizer for the estimation of the physical parameters of the system.

Constraining Convection in Evolved Stars with the VLTI

The semi-regular variable π1 Gruis, an evolved star with a period of 195 days and a parallax of 6.13 ± 0.76 milliarcseconds, was observed with PIONIER in September 2014 (Figure 1). Given the complexity of the target, we collected as many uv points as possible, which resulted in a total of two nights of observations. The data were obtained using the compact and the medium arrays of the VLTI, which are best suited to imaging targets with a diameter of about 20 milliarcseconds, as in the case of π1 Gruis. The switch between the array configurations was done within one week to minimise the effect of variability of the star. The H-band (like the K-band) gives access to the photospheres of evolved stars. AGB stars with oxygen-rich chemistry, such as π1 Gruis, are ideal candidates for studies of the stellar surface convection, as oxygen-rich dust is transparent at those wavelengths.