2003A&A...409..245T

The evolutionary status and origin of the most eccentric known binary in a quadruple system, 41 Dra (e=0.9754, period 3.413yr), are discussed. New observations include the much improved combined speckle-interferometric orbit, resolved photometry of the components and their spectroscopic analysis. The age of the system is 2.5 ±0.2Gyr; all four components are likely coeval. The high eccentricity of the orbit together with known age and masses provide a constraint on the tidal circularization theory: it seems that the eccentric orbit survived because the convective zones of the F-type dwarfs were very thin. Now as the components of 41 Dra are leaving the Main Sequence, their increased interaction at each periastron passage may result in detectable changes in period and eccentricity.