Angular Sizes and Effective Temperatures of O-type Stars from Optical Interferometry with the CHARA Array

Kathryn D. Gordon, Douglas R. Gies, Gail H. Schaefer, Daniel Huber, Michael Ireland, D. John Hillier

Published 2018-12-13Version 1

We present interferometric observations of six O-type stars that were made with the Precision Astronomical Visible Observations (PAVO) beam combiner at the Center for High Angular Resolution Astronomy (CHARA) Array. The observations include multiple brackets for three targets, $\lambda$~Ori~A, $\zeta$~Oph, and 10~Lac, but there are only preliminary, single observations of the other three stars, $\xi$~Per, $\alpha$~Cam, and $\zeta$~Ori~A. The stellar angular diameters range from 0.55 milliarcsec for $\zeta$~Ori~A down to 0.11 mas for 10~Lac, the smallest star yet resolved with the CHARA Array. The rotational oblateness of the rapidly rotating star $\zeta$ Oph is directly measured for the first time. We assembled ultraviolet to infrared flux measurements for these stars, and then derived angular diameters and reddening estimates using model atmospheres and an effective temperature set by published results from analysis of the line spectrum. The model-based angular diameters are in good agreement with observed angular diameters. We also present estimates for the effective temperatures of these stars derived by setting the interferometric angular size and fitting the spectrophotometry.