FU Orionis star

A Dictionary of Astronomy | 1997 | 653 words | Copyright

FU Orionis star A rare class of pre‐main‐sequence object which appears to be coupled with cometary globules; abbr. FU. They are also known as fuors or FUOrs. Most probably they consist of a T Tauri‐like star surrounded by a very luminous accretion disk currently in a state of very high mass accretion (approx. 10⁻⁴ solar masses per year). FU Orionis stars exhibit a gradual rise of up to 6 magnitudes over several months, accompanied by mass ejection. The star subsequently remains constant or shows a slight decline over a period of years or decades, in contrast to the much shorter timescales in the related EX Lupi stars.

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