A three-dimensional orbit for the binary star Alpha Andromedae
Journal: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Year: 2016

Stars that are both spectroscopic and optical binaries present a means to determine simultaneously the masses of the components and the distance of the system independent of trigonometric parallax. Alpha Andromedae (Alpheratz) represents such a system and, moreover, the primary is the brightest of the mercury-manganese stars. An orbit, based on 42 interferometric observations and 378 radial velocities, is calculated to solve for 10 parameters: the six coefficients of the apparent ellipse, the co