Multiepoch VLBA Observations of T Tauri South
Abstract
In this Letter, we present a series of seven observations of the compact, nonthermal radio source associated with T Tauri South made with the Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) over the course of 1 year. The emission is found to be composed of a compact structure most certainly originating from the magnetosphere of an underlying pre-main-sequence star and a low brightness extension that may result from reconnection flares at the star-disk interface. The accuracy of the absolute astrometry offered by the VLBA allows us to make very precise determinations of the trigonometric parallax and proper motion of T Tau South. The proper motion derived from our VLBA observations agrees with that measured with the Very Large Array over a similar period to better than 2 mas yr-1, and it is fully consistent with the infrared proper motion of T Tau Sb, the pre-main-sequence M star with which the radio source has traditionally been associated. The parallax, π=7.07+/-0.14 mas, corresponds to a distance of 141.5+2.8-2.7 pc.
- Publication:
-
The Astrophysical Journal
- Pub Date:
- February 2005
- DOI:
- 10.1086/428349
- arXiv:
- arXiv:astro-ph/0501062
- Bibcode:
- 2005ApJ...619L.179L
- Keywords:
-
- Astrometry;
- Stars: Binaries: General;
- Magnetic Fields;
- Radiation Mechanisms: Nonthermal;
- Radio Continuum: Stars;
- Stars: Formation;
- Astrophysics
- E-Print:
- 4 pages, 2 figures, accepted by ApJ Letters (Feb. 2005)