W Serpentis light curve from A. Fresa taken in 1956 Virtual Observatory Resource

Authors
  1. Gies D.R.
  2. Shepard K.A.
  3. Kar A.
  4. Richardson N.D.
  5. Published by
    CDS
Abstract

The unusal light curve of the massive eclipsing binary W Ser was recently observed with high S/N and fast cadence by the NASA TESS mission. The TESS light curve records two eclipses and relatively fast variations outside of the eclipses. The eclipse timings verify the period increase of the binary, and the period derivative implies a mass transfer rate in excess of 1e-5M_{sun}_/yr. The light curve shows a fading trend from just after an eclipse until the start of the next eclipse. The brightest flux source in the system is the accretion torus surrounding the mass gainer star, and we argue that these orbital-phase related fadings are the result of the injection of cooler gas from the mass donor entering the outskirts of the accretion torus. There are cyclic variations in the out-of-eclipse sections of the light curve that vary on a 2.8day timescale. This equals the orbital period for gas in the outer regions of the accretion torus, so the photometric variations are probably the result of transitory, overdense regions that form at the rim of the accretion torus.

Keywords
  1. eclipsing-binary-stars
  2. multiple-stars
  3. photometry
  4. visible-astronomy
Bibliographic source Bibcode
2025AJ....169..340G
See also HTML
https://cdsarc.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/cat/J/AJ/169/340
IVOA Identifier IVOID
ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/AJ/169/340

Access

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https://vizier.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/VizieR-2?-source=J/AJ/169/340
https://vizier.iucaa.in/viz-bin/VizieR-2?-source=J/AJ/169/340
http://vizieridia.saao.ac.za/viz-bin/VizieR-2?-source=J/AJ/169/340
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History

2026-03-20T13:19:41Z
Resource record created
2026-03-20T12:31:55Z
Updated
2026-03-20T13:19:41Z
Created

Contact

Name
CDS support team
Postal Address
CDS, Observatoire de Strasbourg, 11 rue de l'Universite, F-67000 Strasbourg, France
E-Mail
cds-question@unistra.fr