Uxors

Stars partially obscured by debris

cloudsAmanda Bacon and Connor McElravy

Characteristics of Uxors: Mass

Drawn to scale-Neptune is approx. 2,795,084,800 miles from the sun (not in picture)

Newton’s Apple, 2015, webCool Cosmos, 2015, web

-Uxor stars are commonly intermediate-mass stars; similar to the mass of our sun.

Characteristics of Uxors: Formation

-Theories suggest that Uxors are young stars surrounded by a disk of dust and debris.

-The dust and debris aggregate in a formation process to create the young star.

Characteristics of Uxors: Disks

-The debris cloud is not consistently dense throughout, which causes the star to appear to fluctuate in brightness.

-Theories suggest we are looking at the cloud at an angle into the outer flaring region, which obscures our view. The rest of the time we have a clear perspective of the star.

Outer flaring region

Uxors and Eclipsing Binary Stars-When two stars are gravitationally pulled towards each other they are known as eclipsing binary stars.

-Appear to dim in brightness similar to Uxors.

-Smooth, consistent dimming period differing from Uxors.

MidnightKite, 2015, web

Uxors and Eclipsing Binary Stars-Uxors are more erratic with no consistent period between events.

-Uxors will appear to have a color shift as the dust cloud density changes.

-Red due to dust absorption.

-Blue due to unobscured scattered radiation.

Starman, 2015, web

Uxor versus Eclipsing Binary Star Light CurvesEclipsing Binary

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htne

ssTime (Days)

Uxor

Archived Data

Archived Data

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Archived Data

Conclusion- We have been observing these Uxors for six weeks. Approx. 20 nights

-There are 3 unclear stars with strong light variation that need follow-up observations.

-There is 1 strong candidate to be classified as an Uxor.

-There is 1 star with minimal light variation.