NGC 1514 and LoTr 5 radial velocity curves

Here, we report on the latest results from the on-going Mercator-HERMES survey for variability in the central stars of planetary nebulae. We present a study of the central stars of NGC 1514, BD+30 623, the spectrum of which shows features associated with a hot nebular progenitor as well as a possible A-type companion.

Cross-correlation of high-resolution HERMES spectra against synthetic spectra shows the system to be a highly eccentric (e~0.5), double-lined binary with a period of ~3300 days. Previous studies indicated that the cool component might be a Horizontal Branch star of mass ~0.55M_{sun}_ but the observed radial velocity amplitudes rule out such a low mass. Assuming the nebular symmetry axis and binary orbital plane are perpendicular, the data are more consistent with a post-main-sequence star ascending towards the Giant Branch.