AE Aurigae

AE Aurigae (abbreviated as AE Aur) is a runaway star in the constellation Auriga; it lights the Flaming Star Nebula.

AE Aurigae

Location of AE Aur (circled)
Observation data Epoch J2000      Equinox J2000
Constellation	Auriga
Right ascension	05h 16m 18.15000s[1]
Declination	+34° 18′ 44.3455″[1]
Apparent magnitude (V)	5.96[2] (5.78 - 6.08[3])
Characteristics
Spectral type	O9.5V[4]
U−B color index	−0.70[2]
B−V color index	+0.22[2]
Variable type	Orion variable[3]
Astrometry
Radial velocity (Rv)	56.70±0.6[5] km/s
Proper motion (μ)	RA: -4.440[6] mas/yr Dec.: 43.368[6] mas/yr
Parallax (π)	2.4642 ± 0.0660 mas[6]
Distance	1,363±79 ly (418±24 pc)[7]
Details[7]
Mass	19.2±0.3 M☉
Radius	6.8±0.5 R☉
Luminosity	50,100+4,800 −4,400 L☉
Surface gravity (log g)	4.06±0.05 cgs
Temperature	33,200±300 K
Rotational velocity (v sin i)	9±2 km/s
Age	3.98+0.81 −0.70 Myr
Other designations
AG+34°542, BD+34°980, GC 6429, HD 34078, HIP 24575, HR 1712, SAO 57816, ADS 3843, CCDM J05163+3419, WDS J05163+3419, GCRV 3123, IRAS 05130+3415
Database references
SIMBAD	data

Description

Hipparcos light curves for AE Aurigae. The main plot shows the long-term variation, and the inset plot shows the variation folded over a period of 213.7 days. Adapted from Marchenko et al. (1998)^[8]

AE Aurigae is a blue O-type main sequence star with a mean apparent magnitude of +6.0, making it faintly visible to the naked eye under very good observing conditions. It was discovered to be a variable star by Daniel Walter Morehouse, in 1923, and received its variable star designation in 1924.^[9] It is classified as an Orion type variable star and its brightness varies irregularly between magnitudes +5.78 and +6.08. It is approximately 1,300 light-years from Earth.

AE Aur is a runaway star that might have been ejected during a collision of two binary star groups. This collision, which also is credited with ejecting Mu Columbae and possibly 53 Arietis, has been traced to the Trapezium cluster in the Orion Nebula two million years ago. The binary Iota Orionis may have been the other half of this collision.^[10]

Nebula IC 405 around AE Aurigae

AE Aur is seen to light up the Flaming Star nebula, but it was not formed within it. Instead it is passing through the nebula at high speed and producing a violent bow shock and high energy electromagnetic radiation.^[11][12]

References

1. Van Leeuwen, F. (2007). "Validation of the new Hipparcos reduction". Astronomy and Astrophysics. 474 (2): 653–664. arXiv:0708.1752. Bibcode:2007A&A...474..653V. doi:10.1051/0004-6361:20078357. S2CID 18759600.
2. Ducati, J. R. (2002). "VizieR Online Data Catalog: Catalogue of Stellar Photometry in Johnson's 11-color system". CDS/ADC Collection of Electronic Catalogues. 2237. Bibcode:2002yCat.2237....0D.
3. Samus, N. N.; Durlevich, O. V.; et al. (2009). "VizieR Online Data Catalog: General Catalogue of Variable Stars (Samus+ 2007-2013)". VizieR On-line Data Catalog: B/GCVS. Originally Published in: 2009yCat....102025S. 1. Bibcode:2009yCat....102025S.
4. Sota, A.; Maíz Apellániz, J.; Walborn, N. R.; Alfaro, E. J.; Barbá, R. H.; Morrell, N. I.; Gamen, R. C.; Arias, J. I. (2011). "The Galactic O-Star Spectroscopic Survey. I. Classification System and Bright Northern Stars in the Blue-violet at R ~ 2500". The Astrophysical Journal Supplement. 193 (2): 24. arXiv:1101.4002. Bibcode:2011ApJS..193...24S. doi:10.1088/0067-0049/193/2/24. S2CID 119248206.
5. Kharchenko, N. V.; Scholz, R.-D.; Piskunov, A. E.; Röser, S.; Schilbach, E. (2007). "Astrophysical supplements to the ASCC-2.5: Ia. Radial velocities of ˜55000 stars and mean radial velocities of 516 Galactic open clusters and associations". Astronomische Nachrichten. 328 (9): 889. arXiv:0705.0878. Bibcode:2007AN....328..889K. doi:10.1002/asna.200710776. S2CID 119323941.
6. Brown, A. G. A.; et al. (Gaia collaboration) (August 2018). "Gaia Data Release 2: Summary of the contents and survey properties". Astronomy & Astrophysics. 616. A1. arXiv:1804.09365. Bibcode:2018A&A...616A...1G. doi:10.1051/0004-6361/201833051.
7. Aschenbrenner, P.; Przybilla, N.; Butler, K. (2023-03-01). "Quantitative spectroscopy of late O-type main-sequence stars with a hybrid non-LTE method". Astronomy and Astrophysics. 671: A36. arXiv:2301.09462. Bibcode:2023A&A...671A..36A. doi:10.1051/0004-6361/202244906. ISSN 0004-6361.
8. Marchenko, S. V.; Moffat, A. F. J.; van der Hucht, K. A.; Seggewiss, W.; Schrijver, H.; Stenholm, B.; Lundström, I.; Setia Gunawan, D. Y. A.; Sutantyo, W.; van den Heuvel, E. P. J.; De Cuyper, J. P.; Gómez, A. E. (March 1998). "Wolf-Rayet stars and O-star runaways with HIPPARCOS II. Photometry". Astronomy & Astrophysics. 331: 1022–1036. Bibcode:1998A&A...331.1022M. Retrieved 29 October 2021.
9. Guthnick, P.; Prager, R.; Heise, E. (November 1924). "Benennung von neu entdeckten veränderlichen Sternen". Astronomische Nachrichten. 223 (3): 41–56. Bibcode:1924AN....223...41G. doi:10.1002/asna.19242230302. Retrieved 28 November 2024.
10. Hoogerwerf, R.; De Bruijne, J. H. J.; De Zeeuw, P. T. (2001). "On the origin of the O and B-type stars with high velocities. II. Runaway stars and pulsars ejected from the nearby young stellar groups". Astronomy and Astrophysics. 365 (2): 49. arXiv:astro-ph/0010057. Bibcode:2001A&A...365...49H. doi:10.1051/0004-6361:20000014. S2CID 18970167.
11. López-Santiago, J.; Miceli, M.; Del Valle, M. V.; Romero, G. E.; Bonito, R.; Albacete-Colombo, J. F.; Pereira, V.; De Castro, E.; Damiani, F. (2012). "AE Aurigae: First Detection of Non-thermal X-Ray Emission from a Bow Shock Produced by a Runaway Star". The Astrophysical Journal Letters. 757 (1): L6. arXiv:1208.6511. Bibcode:2012ApJ...757L...6L. doi:10.1088/2041-8205/757/1/L6. S2CID 37792833.
12. France, Kevin; McCandliss, Stephan R.; Lupu, Roxana E. (2007). "A Cometary Bow Shock and Mid-Infrared Emission Variations Revealed in Spitzer Observations of HD 34078 and IC 405". The Astrophysical Journal. 655 (2): 920–939. arXiv:astro-ph/0610953. Bibcode:2007ApJ...655..920F. doi:10.1086/510481. S2CID 16963366.

External links

• AE Aurigae Jim Kaler
• AE Aur VizieR GCVS entry
• HR 1712 VizieR Bright star catalogue entry
• AE Aurigae Aladin image
• CCDM J05163+3419 VizieR Catalog of Components of Double and Multiple Stars entry