Published online by Cambridge University Press: 12 April 2016
A model is proposed for BM Ori to explain why DOREMUS saw only the early B star in the spectrum, whereas the light curve seemed to predict an equally bright cooler star which should have been seen alone at supposed totality. The cool star is assumed to be a disk-shaped object, similar in shape to that proposed by HUANG for ε Aur, seen nearly edge-on. By means of various restraints, it is estimated that the disk covers about 55% of the B star at primary eclipse. This leads to the relative luminosities (Lh = 0.74, 0.87 and 0.92 in V, B, and U), the color of the disk (the opposite side of the disk has the color of a G or F giant), the relative geometrical dimensions (rB = 0.09, rD = 0.25, and the height of the disk h≈0.1), and the orbital inclination (i ≈ 90°). The model with these parameters predicts a theoretical light curve which represents the observations as well as did the solution of HALL and GARRISON, which was based on spherical stars.
Reprints of the Arthur J. Dyer Observatory, Ser. XX, No. XX.