Eclipsing-binary distance

ID: eclipsing-binary-distance

For a detached double-lined binary, radial velocities supply an orbital length scale times , while eclipse geometry supplies inclination and relative radii. Together they determine physical stellar radii. Comparing them with angular radii from a calibrated surface-brightness/colour relation gives distance. The orbital scale is geometric, but the angular-radius calibration, extinction and third light add astrophysical assumptions.[ref]

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