SU Aurigae is a T Tauri-type

variable Variable may refer to: * Variable (computer science), a symbolic name associated with a value and whose associated value may be changed * Variable (mathematics), a symbol that represents a quantity in a mathematical expression, as used in many ...

star A star is an astronomical object comprising a luminous spheroid of plasma (physics), plasma held together by its gravity. The List of nearest stars and brown dwarfs, nearest star to Earth is the Sun. Many other stars are visible to the naked ...

in the

constellation A constellation is an area on the celestial sphere in which a group of visible stars forms Asterism (astronomy), a perceived pattern or outline, typically representing an animal, mythological subject, or inanimate object. The origins of the e ...

Auriga AURIGA (''Antenna Ultracriogenica Risonante per l'Indagine Gravitazionale Astronomica'') is an ultracryogenic resonant bar gravitational wave detector in Italy. It is at the Laboratori Nazionali di Legnaro of the Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nuclea ...

. It is located about 500

light-year A light-year, alternatively spelled light year, is a large unit of length used to express astronomical distances and is equivalent to about 9.46 trillion kilometers (), or 5.88 trillion miles ().One trillion here is taken to be 1012 ...

s (150 parsecs) away in the Taurus-Auriga Star Forming Region. Its apparent magnitude is 9.30, which is dim enough that it cannot be seen with the unaided eye. SU Aurigae's spectral type of G2IIIne means that it is a G-type star with an

effective temperature The effective temperature of a body such as a star or planet is the temperature of a black body that would emit the same total amount of electromagnetic radiation. Effective temperature is often used as an estimate of a body's surface temperature ...

similar to the Sun. The III in the spectral type refers to its

luminosity Luminosity is an absolute measure of radiated electromagnetic power (light), the radiant power emitted by a light-emitting object over time. In astronomy, luminosity is the total amount of electromagnetic energy emitted per unit of time by a st ...

, which is much higher than normal G-type main sequence stars and would put it in the giant star class. However, it is only about 4 million years old, which is relatively young for a star - young

protostars A protostar is a very young star that is still gathering mass from its parent molecular cloud. The protostellar phase is the earliest one in the process of stellar evolution. For a low-mass star (i.e. that of the Sun or lower), it lasts about 50 ...

like SU Aurigae are luminous because they are larger, not condensing into a normal size until they are older. SUAurLightCurve

SU Aurigae is known to have a circumstellar protoplanetary disk surrounding it, which is typical of many T Tauri stars. SU Aurigae's disk has a high inclination of 62° and is nearly perpendicular to the plane of sky, so orbiting protoplanets or comets may be the cause of why there are drops in the amount of light detected. SU Aurigae's

proper motion Proper motion is the astrometric measure of the observed changes in the apparent places of stars or other celestial objects in the sky, as seen from the center of mass of the Solar System, compared to the abstract background of the more dista ...

and distance is similar to AB Aurigae, a better known pre-main-sequence star, meaning that the two may form a very wide binary system; if not, they are still in the same star association.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:SU Aurigae Auriga (constellation) T Tauri stars Aurigae, SU G-type giants 022925 282624 BD+30 0743