Armenian astronomers detect strong outburst of young star

Astronomers from the Byurakan Astrophysical Observatory in Armenia have discovered a strong outburst of the embedded young stellar object named “UKIDSS-J185318.36+012454.5.”

The researchers presented their discovery in a paper published December 30 on the arXiv preprint server, Asbarez reports.

The object is at least 5,000 light years away from the Earth and its neighborhood contains massive protostars with an age of about 100,000 years, as well as a low-mass stellar population approximately 1 million years old.

The object is at least 5,000 light years away from the Earth and its neighborhood contains massive protostars with an age of about 100,000 years, as well as a low-mass stellar population approximately 1 million years old.

Recently, a team of researchers led by Elena Nikoghosyan has combed through the data and images provided by the United Kingdom Infrared Telescope (UKIRT) in Hawaii to search for evidence of outbursts in star-forming regions. “Eruptions of pre-main sequence stellar objects are rare events, thus a new outburst is always noteworthy. And I think that the discovery of a new eruptive variable UKIDSS-J185318.36+012454.5 with a so strong outburst was a big success,” Nikoghosyan said.

They used the archival infrared and submillimeter data from UKIRT Galactic Plane Survey (UKIDSS GPS) and found that an outburst occurred in the period of 2004-2006.

Using the archival photometric data and images, the research team determined the amplitude and the epoch of the outburst, as well as the evolution stage and the basic parameters of the object.