A Charge-Coupled Device Photometric Study of South Hemispheric Contact Binary AE Phoenicis

• Published in: The Astronomical journal 2009-11, Vol.138 (5), p.1465-1468
• Main Authors: He, J.-J, Qian, S.-B, Lajús, E. Fernández, Fariña, C
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 1538-3881; 0004-6256; 1538-3881
• DOI: 10.1088/0004-6256/138/5/1465

The complete charge-coupled device light curves in B, V, R, and I bands of the short-period binary system, AE Phe, are presented. It is found that the light curves of AE Phe belong to typical EW-type light variation. Photometric solutions were derived by using the 2003 version of the Wilson-Devinney code. It showed that AE Phe is a W-subtype shallow-contact system (f = 14.6%(+/-0.5%)) with a mass ratio of q = 2.5491(+/-0.0092). The temperature difference between the two components is 227 K. Analysis of the O - C curve suggests that the period of AE Phe shows a long-term continuous increase at a rate of dP/dt = +6.17(+/-0.44) X 10-8 days year-1. The long-term period increase, the marginal-contact configuration, and the astrophysical parameters of the binary system, all suggest that it is a shallow-contact binary undergoing a thermal relaxation oscillation evolving into a detached binary.