A newly discovered episodically accreting young star could help probe this rare group in more details

What is the News?

Indian astronomers from the Aryabhatta Research Institute of Observational Sciences (ARIES) as part of an international research have discovered Gaia 20eae.

What is Gaia 20eae?

Gaia 20eae is an extremely rare group of young stars that exhibit episodic accretion.

What are Episodic Accreting young stars?

Episodically accreting young stars are young, low-mass stars that have not initiated hydrogen fusion in their core and are fuelled by gravitational contraction and deuterium fusion (pre-main-sequence phase of the star). 

These pre-main-sequence stars are surrounded by a disc from which it steadily feeds on the matter from the disc-shaped region of gas and dust surrounding the star to gain mass. This process is known as mass accretion from the circumstellar disc of the star. 

On occasions their feeding rate increases. This is known as the periods of enhanced mass accretion from their circumstellar disc. During such episodes, the brightness of the star increases by 4-6 magnitudes in the optical bands. 

So far 25 such rare groups of stars have been discovered.

Significance of this discovery: This discovery could help probe into this group of Episodic Accreting young stars and their formation mechanism in greater detail. 

Source: This post is based on the article “A newly discovered episodically accreting young star could help probe this rare group in more details” published in PIB on 25th April 2022.