This is a model of a late-type contact binary, or W Ursae Majoris system. The color scale (from dark red to blue-white) maps increasing effective temperatures. The dark-red (= cooler) areas are dark spots, similar to, but much bigger than sunspots.
The present version of the catalog contains 96 W UMa contact systems. The structure of the catalog is exactly the same as that published in the 1996 paper on Astronomy and Astrophysics ( C. Maceroni and F. van 't Veer A&A 311, 523).
This Web version consists of a ReadMe file with explanations, a file with references relative to Table 2 (see below), and the three main tables:
Table 1 containing basic oservational data.
Table 2 with derived parameters from light curve solutions and radial velocity
curves.
Table 3 containing inferred absolute elements (as masses, radii etc.).
Additional information on the way the various quantities were derived can be found on the abovementioned A&A paper.
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