SIMBAD references

Because the question of the mass ratio of the early-type system BF Aur has not yet fully been clarified, we present and analyse new UBV photometry and nearly contemporaneous radial velocity observations. From a simultaneous least squares analysis of the photometric light curves and the new radial velocity curves we derive a mass ratio of q=1.048±0.02. With even much more accurate photometric and spectroscopic data the mass ratio remains weakly defined. The resulting stellar parameters are consistent with line ratios derived from old and our new spectra and available Stroemgren indices. We confirm earlier conclusions that BF Aur is detached and that the more massive component is almost filling its Roche lobe. New data indicating a period change support the interpretation that mass exchange has already started or is about to start.