Abstract Photometric observations of AH Cnc, a W UMa-type system in the open cluster M67, were carried out by using the 50BiN telescope. About 100 h of time-series B- and V-band data were taken, based on which eight new times of light minima were determined. By applying the Wilson-Devinney method, the light curves were modeled and a revised photometric solution of the binary system was derived. We confirmed that AH Cnc is a deep contact (f = 51%), low mass-ratio (q = 0.156) system. Adopting the distance modulus derived from study of the host cluster, we have re-calculated the physical parameters of the binary system, namely the masses and radii. The masses and radii of the two components were estimated to be respectively 1.188(±0.061) M⊙, 1.332(±0.063) R⊙ for the primary component and 0.185(±0.032) M⊙, 0.592(±0.051) R⊙ for the secondary. By adding the newly derived minimum timings to all the available data, the period variations of AH Cnc were studied. This shows that the orbital period of the binary is continuously increasing at a rate of dp/dt = 4.29 × 10−10 d yr−1. In addition to the long-term period increase, a cyclic variation with a period of was 35.26 yr was determined, which could be attributed to an unresolved tertiary component of the system.
Keywords methods: data analysis — astronomical instrumentation — binaries: eclipsing stars, close stars — Galaxy: open clusters and associations: individual (M67)
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