VV-ORIONIS - IMPROVED ELEMENTS

The UBV light curves obtained by Duerbeck (1975) and H alpha (wide) an d H alpha (narrow) light curves obtained by Chambliss & Davan (1987) o f the detached eclipsing binary VV Orionis (VV Ori) were analysed usin g the Wilson-Devinney method fixing the two parameters T-h(25,000 K) a nd q(0.4172), resulting in the following absolute elements: A = 13.605 +/- 0.031R(.), R(h) = 5.03 +/- 0.03R(.), R(c) = 2.43 +/- 0.02R(.), M( bol,h) = - 5.18 +/- 0.11, M(bol,c) = - 1.54 +/- 0.06, m(h) = 10.81 +/- 0.42m(.) and m(c) = 4.51 +/- 0.41m(.). The de-reddened colours obtain ed from applying the reddening corrections of E(B-V) = 0(m).05 and E(U -B) = 0(m).04, and the derived temperatures of the components, gave sp ectral types of B1.5V for the primary and B4-5V with an UV excess of 0 (m).3 for the secondary component. A comparison of the log L and log T -e of the components with the observed ZAMS shows the primary componen t to be a little above and the secondary component to be a little belo w/or on the ZAMS. A comparison of the properties of the components of VV Ori and a few other detached systems with the normal stars in the l og L, log R and log T-e versus log m planes, indicated a need for eith er a readjustment of the scales of the above parameters or modificatio ns in the theoretical models. From the position of the components on t he evolutionary tracks of Pop I composition computed by Schaller et al . (1992) it is noticed that while the primary component of VV Ori had slightly evolved along the main-sequence, its secondary is still unevo lved. The age of VV Ori is found to be 10 +/- 1 million years and it i s at a distance of 368 +/- 10 pc.