A team of astronomers has used the Hubble Space Telescope to study FU Orionis, a young star in the Orion constellation that dramatically brightened in 1936. The star, part of a binary system and surrounded by a circumstellar disk, has been increasing in brightness for nearly 90 years due to its accretion of mass from the disk. This study provides insights into the interaction between its surface and the accretion process, making FU Orionis a namesake for a class of variable young stars.
This is an artist's concept of the early stages of the young star FU Orionis outburst, surrounded by a disk of material. A team of astronomers has used the Hubble Space Telescope 's ultraviolet capabilities to learn more about the interaction between FU Ori's stellar surface and the accretion disk that has been dumping gas onto the growing star for nearly 90 years. NASA-JPL, Caltech
FU Ori stars are T-Tauri stars that represent the most actively accreting young stellar objects . The outward magnetic pressure from T-Tauri stars prevents the disk from touching the star. Astronomers think that classical T-Tauri stars accrete material along their magnetic field lines and deposit on the poles in a process calledThis schematic shows how magnetospheric accretion works on T-Tauri stars. Image Credit: Adapted from Hartmann et al. .
“We were hoping to validate the hottest part of the accretion disk model, to determine its maximum temperature, by measuring closer to the inner edge of the accretion disk than ever before,” said Lynne Hillenbrand of Caltech in Pasadena, California, a co-author of the paper. “I think there was some hope that we would see something extra, like the interface between the star and its disk, but we were certainly not expecting it.
That means that the scientific model of FU Ori stars, called the viscous disk accretion model, needs to be updated. The team’s revised model says that as material from the accretion disk approaches the star and reaches its surface, it produces a hot shock that emits ultraviolet light. The temperature of the shock suggests that the material is moving at 40 km/s at the boundary, which is in line with simulations of the accretion process.
FU Orionis Hubble Space Telescope Accretion Disk Astronomers Orion Constellation Variable Young Stars
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