Greetings,
Earlier this week, @Sebastian_Otero and I discovered that HIP 1466 (HD 1383), a non-eclipsing, double-line spectroscopic binary is actually an eclipsing system. As described in the VSX entry for the system there are no eclipses observed in HIPPARCOS photometry between 1989 - 1993. However, TESS photometry from 2019 onward shows eclipses of increasing depth. A preliminary review of the literature shows that this transition has not been previously reported, so we believe it warrants additional investigation and publication.
We encourage someone to consider picking up this research idea and driving it to a publication. Potential research questions include:
- When did this system first start eclipsing?
- Did precession cause the eclipses to begin? Is this due to apsidal precession or an unseen third component in the system?
- Are the spectroscopic and photometric parameters stable, or are they evolving over time?
To answer these questions, the following data products could be useful:
- High resolution radial velocity measurements (see Boyajian et al. 2006 for lines that could be monitored)
- Speckle interferometry or long baseline optical interferometry to look for nearby companions.
- Historical photometric data of the system. There are no nearby variable stars, so it is unlikely that an AAVSO member would have observed this by chance. However, NGC 103 is nearby, so perhaps an astrophotographer may have acquired some images of the system at some point.
- Additional multi-color photometric data are unlikely to be needed since the components are theorized to be two identical B-type stars (see Boyajian 2006) and the TESS photometric data cover the modern era.
- Data from other historical photometric surveys.
Brian
