FU Orionis star
A young star undergoing extreme accretion-driven outbursts.
An FU Orionis star is a pre–main-sequence star that undergoes a dramatic increase in brightness and a change in spectral type, attributed to a surge of mass transferred from an accretion disk onto a young, low-mass T Tauri star. These eruptions rise over about a year and can last decades, with the average young star experiencing 10–20 such events. The outbursts are named after the prototype FU Orionis.
Quick Facts
- Prototype
- FU Orionis
- Example
- V1057 Cygni
- Brightness change example
- 6 magnitudes
- Spectral type change example
- dKe to F-type supergiant
- Mass accretion rate
- 10−4 solar masses per year
- Typical rise time
- 1 year
- Estimated eruptions per star
- 10–20
Facts from the source article.
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