Measurements of Keplerian rotation of the gas in the circumbinary disk around T Tauri

• Published in: The Astrophysical journal Vol. 344; no. 2; pp. 915 - 924
• Main Authors: WEINTRAUB, D. A, MASSON, C. R, ZUCKERMAN, B
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Chicago, IL University of Chicago Press 01.09.1989
• Subjects: 640102 - Astrophysics & Cosmology- Stars & Quasi-Stellar, Radio & X-Ray Sources; Astronomy; CARBON COMPOUNDS; CARBON MONOXIDE; CARBON OXIDES; CHALCOGENIDES; CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSICS; COSMIC GASES; Earth, ocean, space; EMISSION SPECTRA; ERUPTIVE VARIABLE STARS; Exact sciences and technology; FLUIDS; GASES; ORBITS; OXIDES; OXYGEN COMPOUNDS; PLANETS; Pre-main sequence objects, young stellar objects (yso's) and protostars (t tauri stars, orion population, herbig-haro objects, bok globules, bipolar outflows, cometary nebulae, etc.); SPECTRA; STARS; STELLAR ACTIVITY; STELLAR WINDS; T TAURI STARS; VARIABLE STARS; Radio map; Kepler orbit; Premain sequence star; Physical parameter; Digital simulation; Carbon monoxide; Circumstellar shell; Interstellar gas; Stellar disk; Interstellar molecule; Interferometric observation
• ISSN: 0004-637X; 1538-4357
• DOI: 10.1086/167859

Interferometric measurements of CO and C-13O (J = 1-0) emission toward T Tauri verify the earlier detection of 0.01 solar masses of circumbinary gas. A disk is clearly resolved by the small beam. The high spatial and spectral resolution (0.26 km/s) data are consistent with disk gas in bound Keplerian orbits, nearly in the plane of the sky, around the central binary. The disk is oriented such that the rotation axis is inclined by about 26 deg to the earth-star line. The new measurements clearly indicate the presence of orbiting material outside of its orbit (100 AU) as well as inside, where a planetary system might form. Simultaneous 2.7 mm continuum observations yield a flux density of 75 mJy. 36 refs.