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Masses, Luminosities, And Orbital Coplanarities Of The Μ Orionis Quadruple-Star System From Phases Differential Astrometry, Matthew W. Muterspaugh, Benjamin F. Lane, Francis C. Fekel, Maciej Konacki, Bernard F. Burke, Shrinivas R. Kulkarni, Mark M. Colavita, Michael Shao, Sloane J. Wiktorowicz

Information Systems and Engineering Management Research Publications

μ Orionis was identified by spectroscopic studies as a quadruple-star system. Seventeen high-precision differential astrometry measurements of μ Ori have been collected by the Palomar High-precision Astrometric Search for Exoplanet Systems (PHASES). These show both the motion of the long-period binary orbit and short-period perturbations superimposed on that caused by each of the components in the long-period system being themselves binaries. The new measurements enable the orientations of the long-period binary and short-period subsystems to be determined. Recent theoretical work predicts the distribution of relative inclinations between inner and outer orbits of hierarchical systems to peak near 40 and 140 …