Open AccessQuasi-periodic Dimming of the ∼130 Myr-old Debris-Disk Hosting Star HD 240779 is not Persistent
Author(s) -
Eric Gaidos
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
research notes of the aas
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2515-5172
DOI - 10.3847/2515-5172/ac5b7c
Subject(s) - photometry (optics) , debris disk , planetesimal , physics , myr , circumstellar disk , planet , astrophysics , debris , circumstellar dust , astronomy , planetary system , stars , chemistry , meteorology , biochemistry , genome , gene
Quasi-periodic (1.5 days) dimming (by circumstellar dust) of the 135 Myr-old AB Doradus moving group member HD 240779 was detected in photometry by TESS in late 2018. Similar observations two years later show no such signal, and ground-based photometry indicate that the signal was absent in late 2019. This suggests that the source of the dust did not survive long after 2018, e.g., it was a disrupted planetesimal, or that dust production by the body is episodic, analogous to the “evaporating” planets detected by Kepler.