The Near-Contact Binary FU Ara: New Observations, a Photometric Study and Preliminary Elements

A new CCD (V) light curve is presented for the semi-detached binary system FU Ara. The light curve, obtained in 2007, is the first one since the last 50 years. With our data we were able to determine six new times of minimum light and refined the period of the system to 0.8645049 days. A Wilson-Devinney analysis leads to a solution of a semi-detached configuration, composed of a main-sequence primary component of spectral type F5, fractionally smaller than its Roche lobe, and an evolved secondary component of spectral type K1 which fills its Roche lobe, and which is overluminous and oversized as compared with the main-sequence. The two components of FU Ara differ considerably in effective temperature. It is classified as an FO Virginis type of near-contact binary system. Assuming a reasonable value for the mass of the primary component, an estimate of the absolute elements of FU Ara has been made, on the assumption that the primary has a mass corresponding to its spectral type according to Svechnikov & Taidakova.