Composite Spectra, Paper XXII HD 193349/50: a 3‐year binary whose apparently single hot secondary could itself be a former binary that is now merged

HD 193349/50, the brightest component of a visual triple system, is a composite‐spectrum binary in which the hot component is dominant in the violet part of the spectrum. The spectral types are near to K0 iii and B9 V. The orbit has a period of three years and a very small (but significantly non‐zero) eccentricity. The enormous mass function of 1.4 M⊙ presents a problem to which we are unable to offer a certain solution; we tend to favour the conclusion that the B9 V star is the result of a stellar merger.