Ejection of a Low Mass Star in a Young Stellar System in Taurus

Abstract

We present the analysis of high angular resolution VLA radio observations, made at eleven epochs over the last 20 years, of the multiple system T Tauri. One of the sources (Sb) in the system has moved at moderate speed (5-10 km/s), on an apparently elliptical orbit during the first 15 years of observations, but after a close (< 2 AU) encounter with the source Sa, it appears to have accelerated westward to about 20 km/s in the last few years. Such a dramatic orbital change most probably indicates that Sb has just suffered an ejection - which would be the first such event ever detected. Whether Sb will ultimately stay on a highly elliptical bound orbit, or whether it will leave the system altogether will be known with about five more years of observations.

4 pages, accepter in ApJ Letters