* Astronomy

Title: Masses and Distance of the Young Binary NTTS 045251+3016
Authors: M. Simon (Stony Brook), G. H. Schaefer (GSU/CHARA), L. Prato (Lowell), Dary Ruiz-Rodriguez (Lowell), N. Karnath (Lowell), O. G. Franz (Lowell), L. H. Wasserman (Lowell)

As part of our continuing campaign to measure the masses of pre-main sequence stars dynamically and thus to assess the reliability of the discrepant theoretical calculations of contraction to the main sequence, we present new results for NTTS 045251+3016, a visual and double-lined spectroscopic binary in the Taurus Star Forming Region. We obtained new high angular resolution astrometry and high spectral resolution spectroscopy at Keck Observatory. The new data lead to a significant revision of previously published orbital parameters. In particular, we find that the masses of the primary and secondary are 0.86±0.11 and 0.55±0.05 solar masses, respectively, smaller than previously reported, and that the system lies 158.7±3.9 pc from the sun, further than previously reported.

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