UX Ori type variables

Artist drawing of the dusty environment around a young stellar object. 
Planets are believed to form in these environments when stars are relatively young. 
Image credit: NASA

Named after the prototype of the class, UX Ori type variables (commonly called UXOrs) are intermediate mass, pre-main sequence Herbig Ae/Be stars. The light curves of these stars show Algol-like fadings of 1 magnitude or more in random intervals of days to weeks. These fadings are accompanied by a change in color and are thought to be caused by non-uniform dust structure around the star.

AAVSO 3000 day light curve of UX Ori

2 comments:

Belle said...

It is interesting how nature is almost always beautiful. I have to exclude spiders - though some mad disagree with me.

Sakib said...

Surely everyone loves the Tarantula Nebula as well as the amazing Red Spider Nebula?!