We present new spectroscopic orbits for the bright binaries Mizar B, 3 Pup, Gem, 2 Lac, and Aql. Our analysis is based on medium-resolution ( 12,000) échelle spectra obtained with the 0.81-m telescope and fiber-fed eShel spectrograph of the Three College Observatory (Greensboro, NC, USA) between 2015 and 2024. Orbital elements were inferred with an affine-invariant Markov-chain Monte-Carlo sampler; convergence was verified through the integrated autocorrelation time and the Gelman–Rubin statistic. Errors quote the 16th–84th-percentile credible intervals. Compared with previously published orbital solutions for the studied stars, our method improves the root-mean-square residuals by 25–50% and bring the 1 uncertainties on the radial velocity (RV) semi-amplitudes down to 0.02–0.15 km . These gains translate into markedly tighter mass functions and systemic RVs, providing a robust dynamical baseline for future interferometric and photometric studies. A complete Python analysis pipeline is openly available in a GitHub repository, ensuring full reproducibility. The results demonstrate that a Bayesian RV analysis with well-motivated priors and rigorous convergence checks yields orbital parameters that are both more precise and more reproducible than previous determinations, while offering fully transparent uncertainty budgets.
Distances to Galactic BA supergiants are essential for determining their luminosities, radii, and positions on the Hertzsprung–Russell diagram, yet Gaia parallaxes for these bright, extended sources are often affected by systematics. We compiled a homogeneous sample of 132 B0–A5 supergiants and re-evaluated their distances using a consistent, quality-controlled approach. Parallaxes from Gaia DR3 and EDR3 were corrected for a magnitude–colour zero-point bias and adjusted for excess noise through RUWE-dependent uncertainty inflation. A Bayesian inference with an exponentially decreasing space–density prior was then applied, adopting the catalogue with the smallest penalised total uncertainty. Distances were accepted only when the corrected parallax signal-to-noise ratio exceeded 2.5, the relative uncertainty was below 40%, and key Gaia quality indicators were nominal. The resulting catalogue delivers robust, quality-vetted distances with realistic uncertainties for each star, providing a reliable foundation for deriving fundamental parameters and for future studies of the flux-weighted gravity–luminosity relation and the evolution of Galactic BA supergiants.
In this study, we present refined orbital and fundamental parameters of the Galactic B[e] supergiant binary system HD 327083 using the Bayesian Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) method applied to the radial velocities data of HD 327083. We found that the system is well described by a circular orbital model with the mass ratio of the components of . We modeled the evolutionary history of the system using MESA code. Initially, the system was formed by a binary with the orbital period of day, which contained stars with 13.00 and masses. They had a relatively slow rotation and provided a strong stellar wind. The current system age is Myr, and the state of the system corresponds to a close filling of the high massive component’s Roche lobe and a beginning of the mass transfer. The mass-transfer event will occur in a short interval of ≲0.1 Myr only. After that, the mass of the post-primary drops to ≈5 , the post-secondary mass grows until ≈20 , and the binary will convert to a detached system with a long orbital period of ≈700 days.
A new spectroscopic study of HR 4049, a post-AGB star in a binary system, based on échelle spectra taken between 2019 and 2025 with the 0.81 m telescope of the Three College Observatory (North Carolina, USA) at a resolution of R ≈ 12,000 is reported. A cross-correlation analysis of 73 spectra of a single C i multiplet in the 4760–4780 Å range yielded the following orbital parameters: the orbital period days, eccentricity , argument of periastron , epoch of periastron , heliocentric systemic radial velocity km s−1, and semi-amplitude of the radial velocity curve km s−1. Phase-dependent variations of the Hα line profile indicate dynamic processes in the circumstellar environment. The luminosity of HR 4049 was refined using the Gaia EDR3 parallax ( mas), corresponding to a distance of pc, and the average visual magnitude in the brightest state ( mag). The derived luminosity, , suggests an initial mass of 3.0–4.0 . Analysis of the mass function and most probable orbital inclinations (60°–75°) leads to current masses of for the primary and – for the secondary component. The results confirm the system’s long-term orbital stability and provide further insights for future research into the nature of post-AGB binaries.