A Predicted Great Dimming of T Tauri: Has it Begun?
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arXiv
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| Format: | Preprint |
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2025
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| _version_ | 1866912184238342144 |
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| author | Beck, Tracy L. |
| author_facet | Beck, Tracy L. |
| contents | The optical star in the T Tauri triple system is the prototype of young sun-like stars in our galaxy. This complex and dynamic system has evidence for misaligned disks and outflows, and molecular material in a circumbinary ring that obscures the southern infrared binary, T Tau South. Observations by members of the American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO) show that T Tau North, the optical star, has dimmed by up to ~2 magnitudes in the visual over the course of the past decade. The dimming across the B, V, R and I bands has a color character typical of changes in ISM extinction, suggesting an increase in obscuration along the line of sight to T Tau North. Material associated with the circumbinary ring around T Tau South has been predicted to occult the optical star via wide-scale orbital motion of the system. Through analysis of the geometrical configuration and motion of dust structures in the system, it seems that a great dimming of T Tau North by line-of-sight material associated with the T Tau South binary has, in fact, begun. Based on the extent and motion of the circumbinary ring material associated with the southern binary, T Tau North will likely experience dimming events for decades to come and may disappear entirely from the optical sky as the densest mid-plane region of the ring traverses our line of sight. |
| format | Preprint |
| id |
arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2501_06378 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2025 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | A Predicted Great Dimming of T Tauri: Has it Begun? Beck, Tracy L. Solar and Stellar Astrophysics The optical star in the T Tauri triple system is the prototype of young sun-like stars in our galaxy. This complex and dynamic system has evidence for misaligned disks and outflows, and molecular material in a circumbinary ring that obscures the southern infrared binary, T Tau South. Observations by members of the American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO) show that T Tau North, the optical star, has dimmed by up to ~2 magnitudes in the visual over the course of the past decade. The dimming across the B, V, R and I bands has a color character typical of changes in ISM extinction, suggesting an increase in obscuration along the line of sight to T Tau North. Material associated with the circumbinary ring around T Tau South has been predicted to occult the optical star via wide-scale orbital motion of the system. Through analysis of the geometrical configuration and motion of dust structures in the system, it seems that a great dimming of T Tau North by line-of-sight material associated with the T Tau South binary has, in fact, begun. Based on the extent and motion of the circumbinary ring material associated with the southern binary, T Tau North will likely experience dimming events for decades to come and may disappear entirely from the optical sky as the densest mid-plane region of the ring traverses our line of sight. |
| title | A Predicted Great Dimming of T Tauri: Has it Begun? |
| topic | Solar and Stellar Astrophysics |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2501.06378 |