Gas and Dust Associated with the Strange, Isolated Star BP Piscium
This is the pre-print of an article published by the American Astronomical Society. The final, published version is available here: https://doi.org/10.1086/587448
© 2008 The American Astronomical Society.
Also archived in: arXiv:0802.0226v2 [astro-ph
]Note: imported from RIT’s Digital Media Library running on DSpace to RIT Scholar Works in February 2014.
Abstract
We have carried out a multi wavelength observational campaign demonstrating some of the remarkable properties of the infrared-bright variable star BP Psc. Surrounded by a compact dusty, gaseous disk, this little-studied late-G (or early- K) type star emits about 75% of its detected energy flux at infrared wavelengths.Evidence for accretion of gas in conjunction with narrow bi-polar jets and Herbig- Haro objects is apparently consistent with classification of BP Psc as a pre-main sequence star, as postulated in most previous studies. If young, then BP Psc would be one of the nearest and oldest known classical T Tauri stars. However, such an evolutionary classification encounters various problems that are absent or much less severe if BP Psc is instead a luminosity class III post-main sequence star. In this case, it would be the first known example of a first ascent giant surrounded by a massive molecular disk with accompanying rapid gas accretion and prominent jets and HH objects. In this model, the genesis of the massive dusty gaseous disk could be a consequence of the envelopment of a low mass companion star. Properties in the disk may be conducive to the current formation of planets, a gigayear or more after the formation of BP Psc itself.
