Bibcode
Riaz, B.; Martín, E. L.
Bibliographical reference
Astronomy and Astrophysics, Volume 525, id.A10
Advertised on:
1
2011
Journal
Citations
6
Refereed citations
6
Description
Context. TMR-1C is a candidate protoplanet that lies at a separation of
about 10” (~1000 AU) from the Class I protobinary TMR-1 (IRAS
04361+2547) located in the Taurus molecular cloud. A narrow
filament-like structure was observed in the discovery HST/NICMOS images,
extending southeast from the central proto-binary system towards TMR-1C,
suggesting a morphology in which the candidate protoplanet may have been
ejected from the TMR-1 system. Follow-up low-resolution spectroscopy,
however, could not confirm if this object is a protoplanet or a
low-luminosity background star. Aims: We present two epochs of
near-infrared photometric observations obtained at the CFHT of TMR-1C.
The time span of ~7 years between the two sets of observations provides
an opportunity to (a) check for any photometric variability similar to
that observed among young stellar objects, which would indicate the
youth of this source, and to (b) determine the proper motion.
Results: TMR-1C displays large photometric variability between 1 and 2
mag in both the H- and Ks-bands. From our 2002 observations,
we find a (H-Ks) color of 0.3 mag, which is much bluer than
the value of 1.3 mag reported by T98 from HST observations. Also, we
observe brightening in both the H- and Ks-bands when the
colors are bluer; i.e., the object gets redder as it becomes fainter. We
have explored the possible origins for the observed variability, and
find extinction due to the presence of circumstellar material to be the
most likely scenario. The observed large-amplitude photometric
variations and the possible presence of a circumstellar disk are strong
arguments against this object being an old background star.