Browsing by Subject "Sirius B"

Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    The gravitational redshift of Sirius B
    (2018-07) Joyce, S.R.G.; Barstow, M.A.; Holberg, J.B.; Bond, H.E.; Casewell, S.L.; Burleigh, M.R.; Castanheira, B.; Vanderbosch, Z.; Montgomery, M.
    Previous measurements of the gravitational redshift of Sirius B have resulted in a mass estimate which is significantly larger than the mass measured from the binary orbit. We have obtained new HST observations of Sirius A and B in Cycle 25 which were used to make a differential measurement of the WD gravitational redshift. We measure a redshift of 80.65 +- 0.77 km s-1 which, when combined with the radius, gives a mass of 1.017 +- 0.025 M . The new result is in agreement with the dynamical mass and the predictions of a C/O white dwarf mass-radius relation with a precision of 2.5 per cent.