* Astronomy

Title: GCIRS16SW: a massive eclipsing binary in the Galactic Center
Authors: F. Martins (1), S. Trippe (1), T. Paumard (1), T. Ott (1), R. Genzel (1 and 2), G. Rauw (3), F. Eisenhauer (1), S. Gillessen (1), H. Maness (2), R. Abuter (4) ((1) MPE, (2) Univ. California, (3) Univ. Liege, (4) ESO)

Researchers report on the spectroscopic monitoring of GCIRS16SW, an Ofpe/WN9 star and LBV candidate in the central parsec of the Galaxy. SINFONI observations show strong daily spectroscopic changes in the K band. Radial velocities are derived from the HeI 2.112 um line complex and vary regularly with a period of 19.45 days, indicating that the star is most likely an eclipsing binary. Under various assumptions, the researchers are able to derive a mass of ~ 50 solar masses for each component.

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