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Eoin O'Kelly

Publications and source records attributed to Eoin O'Kelly.

2 recordsLinked to original sources

Dynamical masses of young stellar objects with the VLBA: DYNAMO-VLBA: Radio binary stars in Orion

We present results from a multi-epoch Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) survey conducted as part of the DYNAMO-VLBA project, aimed at measuring the dynamical masses of young stellar systems in the Orion complex. Our observations include 19 radio sources associated with 15 binary or multiple young systems. For four visual binaries in which both components were detected, the derived Keplerian orbits yield model-independent stellar masses; in particular, Brun~656 and HD~294300 show excellent agreement between VLBA-based and spectral-energy-distribution-based estimates, providing valuable benchmarks for pre-main-sequence evolutionary models. The component NU Ori C is confirmed as an intermediate-mass ($\sim$7\,M$_\odot$) star with nonthermal radio emission, offering rare evidence of magnetic activity near the boundary with the high-mass regime. Several additional sources exhibit astrometric accelerations or periodic residuals, revealing unseen companions and extending dynamical constraints to systems with only one radio-emitting component. These results highlight the capability of very long baseline interferometry astrometry to obtain precise and model-independent masses of young binaries, providing critical empirical anchors for stellar evolution models and new insights into the origin of magnetism in intermediate-mass stars.

astro-ph.SR

Dynamical masses of YSOs with the VLBA: DYNAMO VLBA: Trigonometric parallaxes and proper motions of YSOs in Orion

We present results from a multi-epoch Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) survey of compact radio sources in the Orion complex, conducted within both the DYNAMO-VLBA and the GOBELINS projects. Our observations detected 216 compact radio sources, of which 58 yielded reliable multi-epoch astrometric solutions. For these sources, we derived trigonometric parallaxes and proper motions with typical precisions of about 0.05 mas and 0.10 mas yr$^{-1}$, respectively. The measured parallaxes range between 2.26 and 2.65 mas, corresponding to distances of 380 - 440 pc, and delineate the depth of the Orion star-forming complex. We determine mean distances of $405\pm16$ pc for NGC 2068, $403\pm5$ pc for NGC 2024, $407\pm12$ pc for the $σ$ Orionis region, $388.5\pm1.7$ pc for the Orion Nebula Cluster (ONC), and $438\pm12$ pc for L1641. A comparison with Gaia DR3 astrometry for 28 common sources reveals negligible mean parallax offsets ($Δ\varpi=-0.02\pm0.01$ mas) and small systematic differences in proper motions ($\sim$0.07 mas yr$^{-1}$), likely due to residual rotation of the Gaia reference frame. Our results demonstrate the capability of high-precision radio astrometry to map embedded stellar populations and to provide an independent calibration of the Gaia reference system in obscured regions.

astro-ph.SR