Results from BVRI photometric observations of the pre-main sequence star V1704 Cyg collected during the time period from August 2010 to December 2017 are presented. The star is located in the star-forming HII region IC 5070 and it exhibits photometric variability in all-optical passbands. After analyzing the obtained data, V1704 Cyg is classified as a classical T Tauri star.
Results from the BV(RI)c photometric observations of the young stellar object V2492 Cyg collected in the period from April 2018 to September 2020 are presented. These observations are a part of our monitoring of the star that began in 2010 and continuing to date. V2492 Cyg is located in the Pelican Nebula, and its variability was explained by both accretion and extinction events. The new photometric data show that the star continues to exhibit rapid irregular variability in all bands. In the period from March 2019 to May 2020, we registered a prolonged decrease event in the light curve of V2492 Cyg.
As part of the Red MSX Source Survey of Massive Young Stellar Objects (MYSOs) we have conducted multi-wavelength follow up observations of the well-known object V645 Cygni. We present our data on this object, whose near-infrared spectrum is exceptional and place these in context with previous observations. Our observations of V645 Cyg included near/mid infrared imaging observations, 13CO 2-1 line observations and high signal-to-noise velocity resolved near-infrared spectroscopy. The spectrum shows P-Cygni hydrogen Brackett emission, consistent with a high velocity stellar wind. A red-shifted emission component to a number of near-IR emission lines was also uncovered. This is associated with a similar component in the H alpha line. V645 Cyg is also found to have variable CO first overtone bandhead emission. The data clearly indicate that the outflow of V645 Cyg is variable. The unidentified feature in a previously published optical spectrum is identified with a receding outflow at 2000 km per second. The nature of this feature, which is found in hydrogen and helium atomic lines and CO molecular lines remains a puzzle.
The VVV survey has allowed for an unprecedented number of multi-epoch observations of the southern Galactic plane. In a recent paper,13 massive young stellar objects(MYSOs) have already been identified within the highly variable(Delta Ks > 1 mag) YSO sample of another published work.This study aims to understand the general nature of variability in MYSOs.We present the first systematic study of variability in a large sample of candidate MYSOs.We examined the data for variability of the putative driving sources of all known Spitzer EGOs and bright 24 mu m sources coinciding with the peak of 870 mu m detected ATLASGAL clumps, a total of 718 targets. Of these, 190 point sources (139 EGOs and 51 non-EGOs) displayed variability (IQR > 0.05, Delta Ks > 0.15 mag). Light-curves(LCs) have been sub-classified into eruptive, dipper, fader, short-term-variable and long-period variable-YSO categories.Lomb-Scargle periodogram analysis of periodic LCs was carried out. 1 - 870 mu m spectral energy distributions of the variable sources were fitted with YSO models to obtain representative properties. 41% of the variable sources are represented by > 4Msun objects, and only 6% by > 8Msun objects.The highest-mass objects are mostly non-EGOs,deeply embedded.By placing them on the HR diagram we show that most lower mass,EGO type objects are concentrated on the putative birth-line position, while the luminous non-EGO type objects group around the ZAMS track.Some of the most luminous far infrared sources in the massive clumps and infrared quiet driving sources of EGOs have been missed out by this study owing to an uniform sample selection method.A high rate of detectable variability in EGO targets (139 out of 153 searched) implies that near-infrared variability in MYSOs is closely linked to the accretion phenomenon and outflow activity.
Determination of stellar age is a crucial task in astrophysics research. Different methods are nowadays used either model dependent or based on calibrated empirical relations. The most reliable results are generally obtained when different methods are used in complementary way. We propose a new method for the age determination of young stellar associations and open clusters (ages < 125 Myr), which can allow to further constrain the age when used together with other methods. We explore the amplitude of the photometric variability in bins of color and rotation period of five young associations and clusters spanning an interval of ages from 1-3 Myr to 625 Myr (Taurus, rho Ophiuchi, Upper Scorpius, Pleiades, and Praesepe), which all have high-quality time-series photometry from Kepler K2 campaigns. In the low-mass regime, we find that stars with similar color and rotation period but different ages exhibit different amplitudes of their photometric variability, with younger stars showing a larger photometric variability than older stars. The decline of photometric variability amplitude versus age in stars with similar color and rotation period can be in principle calibrated and be adopted as an additional empirical relation to constrain the age of young associations and open clusters, provided that time-series photometry is available for their low-mass members.
We report the discovery of a likely outbursting Class I young stellar object, associated with the star-forming region NGC 281-W (distance $sim 2.8$ kpc). The source is currently seen only at infrared wavelengths, appearing in both the Palomar Gattini InfraRed ($1.2~mu$m) and the Near Earth Object Widefield Infrared Survey Explorer ($3.4$ and $4.6~mu$m) photometric time-domain surveys. Recent near-infrared imaging reveals a new, extended scattered light nebula. Recent near-infrared spectroscopy confirms the similarity of PGIR 20dci to FU Ori type sources, based on strong molecular absorption in CO, H$_2$O, and OH, weak absorption in several atomic lines, and a warm wind/outflow as indicated by a P Cygni profile in the HeI 10830 A line. This is a rare case of an FU Ori star with a well-measured long term photometric rise before a sharper outburst, and the second instance of an FU Ori star with a documented two-step brightening in the mid-infrared.