Issue |
A&A
Volume 673, May 2023
|
|
---|---|---|
Article Number | A55 | |
Number of page(s) | 11 | |
Section | Stellar structure and evolution | |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/202245179 | |
Published online | 04 May 2023 |
A runaway T Tauri star leaving an extended trail
1
Departamento de Física, Escuela Politécnica Superior de Jaén, Universidad de Jaén, Campus Las Lagunillas s/n, A3-420, 23071 Jaén, Spain
e-mail: jmarti@ujaen.es
2
Departamento de Ingeniería Mecánica y Minera, Escuela Politécnica Superior de Jaén, Universidad de Jaén, Campus Las Lagunillas s/n, A3-008, 23071 Jaén, Spain
3
Departamento de Ciencias Integradas, Centro de Estudios Avanzados en Física, Matemática y Computación, Universidad de Huelva, 21071 Huelva, Spain
4
Grupo de Investigación FQM-322, Universidad de Jaén, Campus Las Lagunillas s/n, A3-065, 23071 Jaén, Spain
Received:
11
October
2022
Accepted:
16
March
2023
Aims. We address the problem of young stellar objects that are found too far away from possible star formation sites. Different mechanisms have been proposed before to explain this unexpected circumstance. The idea of high-velocity protostars is one of these mechanisms, although observational support is not always easy to obtain. We aim to shed light on this issue after the serendipitous discovery of a related stellar system.
Methods. Following the inspection of archival infrared data, a peculiar anonymous star was found that apparently heads a long tail that resembles a wake-like feature. We conducted a multiwavelength analysis including photometry, astrometry, and spectroscopy. Together with theoretical physical considerations, this approach provided a reasonable knowledge of the stellar age and kinematic properties, together with compelling indications that the extended feature is indeed the signature of a high-velocity, or runaway, newborn star.
Results. Our main result is the discovery of a low-mass young stellar object that fits the concept of a runaway T Tauri star that was hypothesized several decades ago. In this peculiar star, nicknamed UJT-1, the interaction of the stellar wind with the surrounding medium becomes extreme. Under reasonable assumptions, this unusual degree of interaction has the potential to encode the mass-loss history of the star on timescales of several ∼105 years.
Key words: stars: formation / stars: winds / outflows / ISM: jets and outflows / shock waves / stars: variables: T Tauri / Herbig Ae/Be
© The Authors 2023
Open Access article, published by EDP Sciences, under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
This article is published in open access under the Subscribe to Open model. Subscribe to A&A to support open access publication.
Current usage metrics show cumulative count of Article Views (full-text article views including HTML views, PDF and ePub downloads, according to the available data) and Abstracts Views on Vision4Press platform.
Data correspond to usage on the plateform after 2015. The current usage metrics is available 48-96 hours after online publication and is updated daily on week days.
Initial download of the metrics may take a while.