Navy Prototype Optical Interferometer Observations of the Double Stars Mizar A and Matar

Abstract

We present a detailed analysis of two spectroscopic binaries based on new observations obtained with the Navy Prototype Optical Interferometer (NPOI). While the data calibration needs reÐnement, Ðrst results show the impressive potential of NPOI, both in terms of speed and precision, for imaging and modeling the orbits of spectroscopic binaries. We determine the orbital parameters of Mizar A (f1 Ursae Majoris) and Matar (g Pegasi), and derive masses and luminosities using published radial velocities and Hipparcos trigonometric parallaxes. The results on Mizar A are compared to earlier work done with the Mark III interferometer, while data from this instrument were combined with NPOI data in the Matar analysis.