V1057 Cygni is a suspected

binary star A binary star or binary star system is a system of two stars that are gravitationally bound to and in orbit around each other. Binary stars in the night sky that are seen as a single object to the naked eye are often resolved as separate stars us ...

system in the northern

constellation A constellation is an area on the celestial sphere in which a group of visible stars forms Asterism (astronomy), a perceived pattern or outline, typically representing an animal, mythological subject, or inanimate object. The first constellati ...

of Cygnus. It is a

variable star A variable star is a star whose brightness as seen from Earth (its apparent magnitude) changes systematically with time. This variation may be caused by a change in emitted light or by something partly blocking the light, so variable stars are ...

of the

FU Orionis FU Orionis is a variable star, variable and binary star system in the constellation of Orion (constellation), Orion, that in 1937 rose in apparent visual magnitude from 16.5 to 9.6, and has since been around magnitude 9. The name ''FU Or ...

-type, and was the second FU Orionis-type variable to be discovered. The system is located at a distance of approximately 3,000

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

s from the

Sun The Sun is the star at the centre of the Solar System. It is a massive, nearly perfect sphere of hot plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core, radiating the energy from its surface mainly as visible light a ...

, in the

North America Nebula The North America Nebula (NGC 7000 or Caldwell 20) is an emission nebula in the constellation Cygnus, close to Deneb (the tail of the swan and its brightest star) in the night sky. It is named because its shape resembles North America. History ...

. It has an

apparent visual magnitude Apparent magnitude () is a measure of the 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 of the object's light ca ...

of around 12.4. The initial classification of the primary was as a young

T Tauri star T Tauri stars (TTS) are a class of variable stars that are less than about ten million years old. This class is named after the prototype, T Tauri, a young star in the Taurus Molecular Cloud, Taurus star-forming region. They are found near mo ...

. During 1969–1970 it underwent a

nova A nova ( novae or novas) is a transient astronomical event that causes the sudden appearance of a bright, apparently "new" star (hence the name "nova", Latin for "new") that slowly fades over weeks or months. All observed novae involve white ...

-like outburst, increasing in brightness by five magnitudes and emitting a strong mass outflow. For the next ten years the brightness stayed at a plateau before decreasing rapidly in the mid–1990s, accompanied by a change in its spectrum. As of 2013, it is 1.5 magnitudes brighter than it was before the nova-like event. The mass of FU Ori objects is estimated to be in the range of 0.3–. A faint binary companion was discovered in 2016, and designated component B. It is located at a

projected separation This glossary of astronomy is a list of definitions of terms and concepts relevant to astronomy and cosmology, their sub-disciplines, and related fields. Astronomy is concerned with the study of celestial objects and phenomena that originate outs ...

of from the primary, with a possible

orbital period The orbital period (also revolution period) is the amount of time a given astronomical object takes to complete one orbit around another object. In astronomy, it usually applies to planets or asteroids orbiting the Sun, moons orbiting planets ...

of ~300 years. The 1970 outburst of the primary may have been caused by torque of its

accretion disk An accretion disk is a structure (often a circumstellar disk) formed by diffuse material in orbital motion around a massive central body. The central body is most frequently a star. Friction, uneven irradiance, magnetohydrodynamic effects, and ...

by the companion.

References

{{Authority control FU Orionis stars Binary stars F-type bright giants F-type supergiants G-type bright giants G-type supergiants Cygnus (constellation) Cygni, V1057