- #1
Lavabug
- 866
- 37
Homework Statement
By performing CCD photometry on a pair of nearby stars A and B we obtain their relative magnitudes in the V filter and their colors:
Star A: mV = 8.70 , (B − V )= 1.30
Star B: mV = 11.90 , (B − V )= 1.81
Star A is known to be a of a main sequence K0V type, while no other information on Star B is available.
Argue if this consists of a visual binary system or if B is a background star.
The Attempt at a Solution
[tex]m_{\lambda}(N stars) = -2.5log(\sum10^{.0.4m_{\lambda}_i})[/tex]
Not sure what to do. Using the expression above, I found the apparent magnitude for the system as a whole and it came out brighter than A (as expected), but by very little: 8.645. What do I need to look for to determine if its a binary or not?