CI Tauri

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CI Tauri
CL Tauri.jpg
Atacama Large Millimeter Array image of CI Tauri, showing three gaps in the disk
Observation data
Epoch J2000       Equinox J2000
Constellation Taurus
Right ascension 04h 33m 52.01440s [1]
Declination +22° 50 30.0941 [1]
Apparent magnitude  (V)13.8 [2]
Characteristics
Evolutionary stage T Tauri star
Spectral type K4IVe [2]
Variable type Orion variable
Astrometry
Radial velocity (Rv)+16.2 [2]  km/s
Proper motion (μ)RA: +8.942  mas/yr [1]
Dec.: –17.079  mas/yr [1]
Parallax (π)6.2376 ± 0.0205  mas [1]
Distance 523 ± 2  ly
(160.3 ± 0.5  pc)
Details
Mass 0.90±0.02 [3]   M
Radius 1.679 [4]   R
Rotation 6.6 d [5] or 9 d [6]
Age 2-3 [3]   Myr
Other designations
CI Tau, 2MASS J04335200+2250301, EPIC 247584113 [2]
Database references
SIMBAD data
A broad-band optical light curve for CI Tauri, adapted from Roggero et al. (2021) CITauLightCurve.png
A broad-band optical light curve for CI Tauri, adapted from Roggero et al. (2021)

CI Tauri is a young star, about 2 million years old, located approximately 523 light-years (160 parsecs ) away in the constellation Taurus. It is still accreting material from a debris disk at an unsteady pace, possibly modulated by the eccentric [8] orbital motion of an inner planet. [9] The spectral signatures of compounds of sulfur were detected from the disk. [10]

Contents

The magnetic field on the surface of CI Tauri, equal to 0.22 T, is close to average for T Tauri stars. [11]

Planetary system

CI Tauri hosts a protoplanetary disk, and evidence for planets has been found via both radial velocity and disk morphology. [12] [6]

Radial velocity

CI Tauri displays several periodic radial velocity variations, including periods of 6.6 days, 9 days, and 25 days. [6] The 9-day period was proposed to be due to a candidate massive planet on an eccentric orbit, CI Tauri b, in 2016. [13] The discovery of CI Tauri b was notable because it is a hot Jupiter, which are supposed to take a minimum of 10 million years to form, and are often thought to be too close to their parent stars to have formed there. [14] [15]

The existence of this planet has been debated; in 2019, a detection of carbon monoxide attributed to the planet's atmosphere was announced, seemingly confirming it. [3] However, a 2020 study found that the star rotates with a period of 9 days, and suggested that the radial velocity variations may be caused by the star's rotation rather than a planet. The carbon monoxide detection was attributed to magnetic interaction of the star with the circumstellar disk. [16] Other studies have attributed the 6.6-day period to the stellar rotation and the 9-day period to the candidate planet. [9] [5]

A 2024 study found evidence for a planetary origin of the 25-day radial velocity signal, while considering the 9-day signal to correspond to the stellar rotation and be caused by a starspot. [6] This 25-day candidate planet would orbit CI Tauri at a distance of 0.17 AU in a highly-eccentric orbit (e = 0.58). The mass of this planet is estimated to be 3.6±0.3  MJ . [6] While this is treated as a strong candidate and left undesignated by its discovery paper, the NASA Exoplanet Archive lists it as a confirmed planet with the designation CI Tauri c. [4]

Disk morphology

In 2018 the possible detection of three more planets, inferred by gaps in the protoplanetary disk surrounding the star, was announced. Using the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) to look for 'siblings' of CI Tauri b, a team of researchers detected three distinct gaps in the protoplanetary disk which their theoretical modelling suggests are caused by three other planets. The two outer planets are believed to be about the mass of Saturn, while the inner planet's mass is around the same as Jupiter. [15] Two of the new planets are similarly located to those inferred in the HL Tauri protoplanetary disk. [12]

Another 2018 study also found evidence for the outermost of these planets at around 100 AU, estimating a mass of 0.25-0.8 times that of Jupiter. [17] If this discovery is confirmed this would be the most massive collection of exoplanets ever detected at this age with its four planets spanning a factor of a thousand in orbital radius. [12]

The gaps are visible in wideband photography, but not in the gas spectral lines. These "gaps" may be lower-temperature shadows of dust in the inner disk cast on outer parts rather than true gaps carved by planets. [18]

The CI Tauri planetary system [3] [6] [12] :5
Companion
(in order from star)
Mass Semimajor axis
(AU)
Orbital period
(days)
Eccentricity Inclination Radius
b(false positive [4] )11.6+2.9
−2.7
MJ
8.9891±0.02020.25±0.1650.5+6.3
−8.5
°
c3.6±0.3  MJ 0.17±0.0825.2+1.7
−1.8
0.58+0.05
−0.06
(unconfirmed)~0.75 MJ ~14
(unconfirmed)~0.15 MJ ~43
(unconfirmed)~0.4 MJ ~108
debris disk [10] 200600 AU 50.3°

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Protoplanetary disk</span> Gas and dust surrounding a newly formed star

A protoplanetary disk is a rotating circumstellar disc of dense gas and dust surrounding a young newly formed star, a T Tauri star, or Herbig Ae/Be star. The protoplanetary disk may also be considered an accretion disk for the star itself, because gases or other material may be falling from the inner edge of the disk onto the surface of the star. This process should not be confused with the accretion process thought to build up the planets themselves. Externally illuminated photo-evaporating protoplanetary disks are called proplyds.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Protoplanet</span> Large planetary embryo

A protoplanet is a large planetary embryo that originated within a protoplanetary disk and has undergone internal melting to produce a differentiated interior. Protoplanets are thought to form out of kilometer-sized planetesimals that gravitationally perturb each other's orbits and collide, gradually coalescing into the dominant planets.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rogue planet</span> Planetary object without a planetary system

A rogueplanet, also termed a free-floating planet (FFP) or an isolated planetary-mass object (iPMO), is an interstellar object of planetary mass which is not gravitationally bound to any star or brown dwarf.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">TW Hydrae</span> T Tauri star in the constellation Hydra

TW Hydrae is a T Tauri star approximately 196 light-years away in the constellation of Hydra. TW Hydrae is about 80% of the mass of the Sun, but is only about 5-10 million years old. The star appears to be accreting from a face-on protoplanetary disk of dust and gas, which has been resolved in images from the ALMA observatory. TW Hydrae is accompanied by about twenty other low-mass stars with similar ages and spatial motions, comprising the "TW Hydrae association" or TWA, one of the closest regions of recent "fossil" star-formation to the Sun.

TW Hydrae b is a likely extrasolar planet orbiting the young T Tauri star TW Hydrae approximately 176 light-years (54 parsecs, or nearly 1.665×1016 km) away in the constellation of Hydra. It is likely a Neptune-like planet orbiting at a distance of nearly 22 AU from its star.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Taurus molecular cloud</span> Interstellar molecular cloud in the constellations Taurus and Auriga

The Taurus molecular cloud (TMC-1) is an interstellar molecular cloud in the constellations Taurus and Auriga. This cloud hosts a stellar nursery containing hundreds of newly formed stars. The Taurus molecular cloud is only 140 pc away from Earth, making it possibly the nearest large star formation region. It has been important in star formation studies at all wavelengths.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Planetary-mass object</span> Size-based definition of celestial objects

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Strategic Explorations of Exoplanets and Disks with Subaru</span> Long survey that imaged exoplanets and protoplanetary disks

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Grand tack hypothesis</span> Theory of early changes in Jupiters orbit

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">HD 169142</span> Pre-main-sequence star in the constellation Sagittarius

HD 169142 is a single Herbig Ae/Be star. Its surface temperature is 7650±150 K. HD 169142 is depleted of heavy elements compared to the Sun, with a metallicity Fe/H index of −0.375±0.125, but is much younger at an age of 7.5±4.5 million years. The star is rotating slowly and has relatively low stellar activity for a Herbig Ae/Be star.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">LkCa 15</span> Star system in the constellation Taurus

LkCa 15 is a T Tauri star in the Taurus Molecular Cloud. These types of stars are relatively young pre-main-sequence stars that show irregular variations in brightness. It has a mass that is about 97% of the Sun, an effective temperature of 4370 K, and is slightly cooler than the Sun. Its apparent magnitude is 11.91, meaning it is not visible to the naked eye.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Disrupted planet</span> Planet or related being destroyed by a passing object

In astronomy, a disrupted planet is a planet or exoplanet or, perhaps on a somewhat smaller scale, a planetary-mass object, planetesimal, moon, exomoon or asteroid that has been disrupted or destroyed by a nearby or passing astronomical body or object such as a star. Necroplanetology is the related study of such a process.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">GW Orionis</span> Star in the constellation Orion

GW Orionis is a T Tauri type pre-main sequence hierarchical triple star system. It is associated with the Lambda Orionis star-forming region and has an extended circumtrinary protoplanetary disk.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">PDS 70</span> T Tauri-type star in the constellation Centaurus

PDS 70 is a very young T Tauri star in the constellation Centaurus. Located 370 light-years from Earth, it has a mass of 0.76 M and is approximately 5.4 million years old. The star has a protoplanetary disk containing two nascent exoplanets, named PDS 70b and PDS 70c, which have been directly imaged by the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope. PDS 70b was the first confirmed protoplanet to be directly imaged.

Catherine Jane Clarke is a Professor of Theoretical Astrophysics at the University of Cambridge and a fellow of Clare College, Cambridge. In 2017 she became the first woman to be awarded the Eddington Medal by the Royal Astronomical Society. In 2022 she became the first female director of the Institute of Astronomy, Cambridge.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Circumplanetary disk</span> Accumulation of matter around a planet

A circumplanetary disk is a torus, pancake or ring-shaped accumulation of matter composed of gas, dust, planetesimals, asteroids or collision fragments in orbit around a planet. They are reservoirs of material out of which moons may form. Such a disk can manifest itself in various ways.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">V1298 Tauri</span> Star in the constellation Taurus

V1298 Tauri is a young weakly-lined T Tauri star that is part of the Taurus-Auriga association in the Taurus Molecular Cloud. Alternatively it is part of a proposed moving group, called Group 29 that is slightly older. The system has four transiting exoplanets, discovered with the Kepler space telescope in the K2 mission. One of the planets was discovered in August 2019 and the other three were discovered in November 2019 by the same team.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">GI Tauri and GK Tauri</span> Binary star system in the constellation of Taurus

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">CQ Tauri</span> Star in the constellation Taurus

CQ Tauri is a young variable star in the equatorial constellation of Taurus. It is too faint to be visible to the naked eye with an apparent visual magnitude that ranges from 8.7 to 12.25. The distance to this star is approximately 487 light years based on parallax measurements, and it is drifting further away with a radial velocity of ~23 km/s. It appears to be part of the T-association Tau 4. CQ Tauri lies close enough to the ecliptic to undergo lunar occultations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">IM Lupi</span> Pre-main-sequence star in the constellation Lupus

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References

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