Central eclipse contact-radius relations
ID: central-eclipse-contact-radius-relations
For a circular edge-on eclipsing binary with central passage, define between external contacts and between internal contacts, with . The projected separation from conjunction is . At contact it equals or , proving the title formula. Taking half the sum and difference recovers the radii. When durations are small compared with , this becomes with . A nonzero impact parameter changes the contact chords.
New to topics? Read the docs here!