DH Tauri, also known as DH Tau, is a type M star, located 140

parsecs The parsec (symbol: pc) is a unit of length used to measure the large distances to astronomical objects outside the Solar System, approximately equal to or (AU), i.e. . The parsec unit is obtained by the use of parallax and trigonometry, and ...

(456.619

light years A light-year, alternatively spelled light year (ly or lyr), is a unit of length used to express astronomical distances and is equal to exactly , which is approximately 9.46 trillion km or 5.88 trillion mi. As defined by the International Astro ...

) away. It forms a

binary system A binary system is a system of two astronomical bodies of the same kind that are comparable in size. Definitions vary, but typically require the center of mass to be located outside of either object. (See animated examples.) The most common ki ...

with DI Tauri away, and has a

substellar companion A substellar object, sometimes called a substar, is an astronomical object, the mass of which is smaller than the smallest mass at which hydrogen fusion can be sustained (approximately 0.08 solar masses). This definition includes brown dwarfs and f ...

, either a

brown dwarf Brown dwarfs are substellar objects that have more mass than the biggest gas giant planets, but less than the least massive main sequence, main-sequence stars. Their mass is approximately 13 to 80 Jupiter mass, times that of Jupiter ()not big en ...

or massive

exoplanet An exoplanet or extrasolar planet is a planet outside the Solar System. The first confirmed detection of an exoplanet was in 1992 around a pulsar, and the first detection around a main-sequence star was in 1995. A different planet, first det ...

Characteristics

DH Tauri is a type M, or

red dwarf A red dwarf is the smallest kind of star on the main sequence. Red dwarfs are by far the most common type of fusing star in the Milky Way, at least in the neighborhood of the Sun. However, due to their low luminosity, individual red dwarfs are ...

star, one of the most common types of

star A star is a luminous spheroid of plasma (physics), plasma held together by Self-gravitation, self-gravity. The List of nearest stars and brown dwarfs, nearest star to Earth is the Sun. Many other stars are visible to the naked eye at night sk ...

in the Milky Way. It has an

apparent magnitude Apparent magnitude () is a measure of the Irradiance, brightness of a star, astronomical object or other celestial objects like artificial satellites. Its value depends on its intrinsic luminosity, its distance, and any extinction (astronomy), ...

of 13.71 and temperature of . DH Tauri has a mass of and an estimated radius of , which is unusually large for a red dwarf. The companion DH Tauri B or b has a mass estimated to be between and , making it either a

super-Jupiter A super-Jupiter is a gas giant exoplanet that is more massive than the planet Jupiter. For example, substellar companion, companions at the planet–brown dwarf borderline have been called super-Jupiters, such as around the star Kappa Andromedae. ...

. Other sources give a mass as high as , with a bolometric luminosity of . The spectral type has been classified as M7.5 or M9.25. The companion has detected water vapor and carbon monoxide in its atmosphere and has a rotational velocity of 9.6 ± 0.7 km/s. This is between 9 and 15% of the breakup speed of DH Tau B. This low rotation is in agreement with

magnetic Magnetism is the class of physical attributes that occur through a magnetic field, which allows objects to attract or repel each other. Because both electric currents and magnetic moments of elementary particles give rise to a magnetic field, m ...

coupling to a circumplanetary disk in the late stages of accretion, which reduces angular momentum of the companion. The companion, while its host star still having a

protoplanetary disk A protoplanetary disk is a rotating circumstellar disc of dense gas and dust surrounding a young newly formed star, a T Tauri star, or Herbig Ae/Be star. The protoplanetary disk may not be considered an accretion disk; while the two are sim ...

, is still accreting material, being surrounded by a circumsubstellar disk (possibly a circumplanetary disk, depending on its formation history). It is potentially orbited by a smaller candidate companion DH Tauri Bb (possibly an

exomoon Artist's impression of candidate exomoon Kepler-1625b I orbiting its planet. An exomoon or extrasolar moon is a natural satellite that orbits an exoplanet or other non-stellar extrasolar body. Exomoons are difficult to detect and confirm us ...

) with , and a mass ratio with respect to the brown dwarf of one-tenth.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:DH Tauri Tauri, DH T Tauri stars M-type main-sequence stars J04294155+2632582 IRAS catalogue objects Taurus (constellation) Hypothetical planetary systems