AB Aurigae

AB Aurigae

ALMA image of the dust ring (red) and gaseous spirals (blue) of the circumstellar disk AB Aurigae reveal gaseous spiral arms inside a wide dust gap, providing a hint of planet formation.
Credit: ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO)/Tang et al.
Observation data
Epoch J2000      Equinox J2000
Constellation Auriga
Right ascension 04h 55m 45.84600s[1]
Declination +30° 33′ 04.2933″[1]
Apparent magnitude (V) 7.05[2]
Characteristics
Evolutionary stage Pre-main-sequence[3]
Spectral type A0Ve[4]
U−B color index +0.04[5]
B−V color index +0.11[5]
Variable type INA (Herbig Ae)[3][6]
Astrometry
Radial velocity (Rv)+8.9±0.9[7] km/s
Proper motion (μ) RA: +3.926[1] mas/yr
Dec.: –24.112[1] mas/yr
Parallax (π)6.1400 ± 0.0571 mas[1]
Distance531 ± 5 ly
(163 ± 2 pc)
Details
Mass2.4±0.2[8] M☉
Radius2.5[9] R☉
Luminosity~38[8] L☉
Temperature9,772[10] K
Age4±1[8] Myr
Other designations
AB Aur, BD+30° 741, HD 31293, HIP 22910, SAO 57506[11]
Database references
SIMBADdata

AB Aurigae is a young Herbig Ae star[3] in the Auriga constellation. It is located at a distance of approximately 531 light years from the Sun based on stellar parallax.[1] This pre-main-sequence star has a stellar classification of A0Ve,[4] matching an A-type main-sequence star with emission lines in the spectrum. It has 2.4 times the mass of the Sun and is radiating 38[8] times the Sun's luminosity from its photosphere at an effective temperature of 9,772 K.[10] The radio emission from the system suggests the presence of a thermal jet originating from the star with a velocity of 300 km s−1. This is causing an estimated mass loss of 1.7×10−8 M☉ yr−1.[8]

This star is known for hosting a dust disk that may harbour a condensing planet or brown dwarf. The star could host a possible substellar companion in wide orbit. The star is part of the young Taurus-Auriga association,[4] which is located in the Taurus Molecular Cloud.[12] The star itself may recently have encountered a dense cloudlet, which disrupted its debris disk and produced an additional reflection nebula.[13]

  1. ^ a b c d e f Cite error: The named reference GaiaDR2 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference Ducati was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ a b c Cite error: The named reference Tang et al was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ a b c Cite error: The named reference Mooley_et_al_2013 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference Nicolet was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference Samus_et_al_2017 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference Gontcharov was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ a b c d e Cite error: The named reference Rodríguez_et_al_2014 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  9. ^ Cite error: The named reference Li was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  10. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference Tannirkulam was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  11. ^ Cite error: The named reference SIMBAD was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  12. ^ Cite error: The named reference Gagné_et_al_2018 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  13. ^ Cite error: The named reference Kuffmeier2019 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).