A Peculiar Young Eruptive Star in the Dark Cloud Lynds 1340

Kun, M.; Szegedi-Elek, E.; Moór, A.; Ábrahám, P.; Acosta-Pulido, J. A.; Apai, D.; Kelemen, J.; Pál, A.; Rácz, M.; Regály, Zs.; Szakáts, R.; Szalai, N.; Szing, A.
Bibliographical reference

The Astrophysical Journal Letters, Volume 733, Issue 1, article id. L8 (2011).

Advertised on:
5
2011
Number of authors
13
IAC number of authors
1
Citations
21
Refereed citations
19
Description
We conducted a long-term optical photometric and spectroscopic monitoring of the strongly variable, accreting young sun-like star [KOS94] HA11, associated with the dark cloud Lynds 1340 that exhibited large amplitude (5-6 mag in the I C band) brightness variations on 2-3 years timescales, flat spectral energy distribution (SED), and extremely strong (300lsim EW/Å <~ 900) Hα emission. In this Letter we describe the basic properties of the star, derived from our observations between 1999 and 2011, and put into context the observed phenomena. The observed variations in the emission spectra, near-infrared colors, and SED suggest that [KOS94] HA11 (spectral type: K7-M0) is an eruptive young star, possibly similar in nature to V1647 Ori: its large-scale photometric variations are governed by variable accretion rate, associated with variations in the inner disk structure. The star recently has undergone strong and rapid brightness variations, thus its further observations may offer a rare opportunity for studying structural and chemical rearrangements of the inner disk, induced by variable central luminosity.
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