The Orbit and Occultations of KH 15D

Abstract

The unusual flux variations of the pre-main-sequence binary star KH 15D have been attributed to occultations by a circumbinary disk. We test whether or not this theory is compatible with newly available data, including recent radial velocity measurements, CCD photometry over the past decade, and photographic photometry over the past 50 years. We find the model to be successful, after two refinements: a more realistic motion of the occulting feature, and a halo around each star that probably represents scattering by the disk. The occulting feature is exceptionally sharp-edged, raising the possibility that the dust in the disk has settled into a thin layer, and providing a tool for fine-scale mapping of the immediate environment of a T Tauri star. However, the window of opportunity is closing, as the currently visible star may be hidden at all orbital phases by as early as 2008.

To appear in ApJ [16 pages, 13 figures]

Cited by in corpus (7)

• Periodic accretion from a circumbinary disk in the young binary UZ Tau E
• The Peculiar Periodic YSO WL 4 in Rho Ophiuchus
• Reflected Light from Sand Grains in the Terrestrial Zone of a Protoplanetary Disk
• Hydrodynamic Processes in Young Binary Systems as a Source of Cyclic Variations of Circumstellar Extinction
• An occultation event in a triple post-AGB star
• Extending the Model of KH 15D: Estimating the Effects of Forward Scattering and Curvature of the Occulting Ring Edge
• The Recurrent Eclipse of an Unusual Pre--Main-Sequence Star in IC 348