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arXiv · 0804.1799

On the Binary Nature of Dust-encircled BD+20 307

A. J. Weinberger
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Abstract

Three epochs of high resolution spectra of the star BD+20 307 show that it is a short period (~3.5 day) spectroscopic binary of two nearly identical stars. Surprisingly, the two stars, though differing in effective temperature by only ~250 K and having a mass ratio of 0.91, show very different Li line equivalent widths. A Li 6707 Angstrom line is only detected from the primary star, and it is weak. This star is therefore likely to be older than 1 Gyr. If so, the large amount of hot circumbinary dust must be from a very large and recent, but very late evolutionarily, collision of planetesimals.

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A. J. Weinberger. 2008-04-10. On the Binary Nature of Dust-encircled BD+20 307. https://doi.org/10.1086/589180

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