Presentation Abstract

Presentation Number 153.07
Presentation Time: Monday, Jan 10, 2011, 9:00 AM - 6:30 PM
Title TripleSpec Observations of Candidate PTF Eclipsing Binaries
Author Block Katie Hamren1, K. Covey1, N. Law2, M. Agueros3, J. Lemonias3, A. Kraus4
1Cornell University, 2University of Toronto, Canada, 3Columbia University, 4University of Hawaii.
Abstract The Columbia-Cornell-Caltech Palomar Transient Factory (CCCP) survey is designed to obtain stellar rotations in a number of nearby open clusters. Among the interesting objects detected in CCCP fields observed to date are several candidate eclipsing binaries with M star primaries. These systems, whether in the field or in our target clusters, are ideal laboratories for testing models for the masses and temperatures of late-type stars. The challenge is in obtaining and analyzing the high quality follow-up spectroscopy that is required for these tests. Here we report on our use of the near-infrared TripleSpec spectrometer on the 200-inch telescope at Palomar Observatory to follow up on these interesting systems. While these observations are of moderate resolution (R ∼ 3000), they do provide sufficient traction to constrain the radial velocity separation of the two components of the binary, allowing us to place constraints on the orbits of these systems.