Apsidal motion in the eclipsing binary system of BW AQR

The first photoelectric light curve of the eclipsing binary system BW Aqr (F71V+F81V;P=6^d.7;V=10 ^m .31), discovered by Miss Leavitt at the beginning of the century, was obtained. The photometric elements were detemined. The components of this system are considerably evolved stars: the age of the system is about 2×10⁹ yr. It follows from the photometric data that the secondary component should have greater mass than the primary one The zero-age spectral classes of components were F2V and F1V. The system has an elliptical orbit with the eccentricitye=0.18. The angular rate of the apsidal motion (_obs = 0.070 deg yr^–1) and the corresponding value of the apsidal parameterk ₂=0.0090 (the relativistic term included) were found. The derived valuek ₂ exceeds by more than a factor of 2 the theoretical coefficient obtained from the modern theory of internal structure of stars with moderate masses .