Photometric and spectroscopic study of R CMa

Abstract

UBV light curves and spectrograms of R CMa obtained with the 48-inch telescope of Japal-Rangapur Observatory during 1980-82 have been used for deriving the eclipse and orbital elements as well as the absolute dimensions of the components. The primary is found to be a Main-Sequence F2V star of mass 1.52M_⊙ and the secondary a subgiant star of spectral type G8 and mass 0.20M_⊙ which fills its Roche lobe, in agreement with Kopal and Shapley (1956) results, Kopal (1959), or Sahade's (1963) results. From a consideration of the possible evolution of this system it is concluded that a large fraction of the original mass of the secondary is lost from the system. A study of the period changes indicates the possible presence of a third component of mass of about 0.5M_⊙ which is most likely to be an M dwarf.