astronomy

GM Aurigae

GM Aurigae is a astronomy topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand GM Aurigae rather than just read about it. In short: GM Aurigae (GM Aur) is a K6V-type T Tauri star located 155 parsecs from Earth in the constellation of Auriga. It has a mass of 0.95 solar masses, a radius of 2 solar radii, a luminosity of 1.2 solar luminosity and a temperature of 4287 Kelvin.

Key takeaways

GM Aurigae belongs to astronomy; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect GM Aurigae to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of GM Aurigae from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

GM Aurigae (GM Aur) is a K6V-type T Tauri star located 155 parsecs from Earth in the constellation of Auriga. It has a mass of 0.95 solar masses, a radius of 2 solar radii, a luminosity of 1.2 solar luminosity and a temperature of 4287 Kelvin. It has an age of around 3-10 million years and is a member of the Taurus-Auriga star forming region. The star is host to a circumstellar disk with a possible planet still forming within it. It has a stellar rotation period between 5.18 and 6.1 days, with a rotational period of approximately 6.04 days being most likely.

Circumstellar disk GM Aur is host to an extensively studied circumstellar disk. Within this disk it has a large dust cavity located at 35 AU. There is a fainter disk extending up to 250 AU. There is no consensus on whether this cavity was carved out by a forming exoplanet accreting material, photoevaporation, magnetohydrodynamic disk winds or a combination of all of the above. If there were a planet forming in the system, it would likely have a minimum mass of about 1.10 Jupiter masses. Spatially resolved submillimetre observations of GM Aur confirm the existence of a transitional disc that is inclined at 52.77° with respect to the line of sight. This disk also has an inner dust cavity with a radius of 30-40 AU. Spectra taken of the stars circumstellar disk show that H2 dominated the spectrum. Other than H2, OH lines have been detected within the disk of GM Aur along with CO emissions. Methyl cations (CH3) and bicarbonate (HCO) have also been found within the disk along with tentative signals of carbon dioxide. Water (H2O) has also been detected, but is photo-destroyed at a rate of around 5.4 × 10 40 {\displaystyle 5.4\times 10^{40}} molecules of water destroyed every second. This rate of destruction is less volatile than other stars.

Magnetic field The large-scale magnetic field of GM Aur has a dipolar configuration with a slight tilt. It has a strength of 730 gauss which is similar to other classical T Tauri stars with similar rotational periods.

Notes

References

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with GM Aurigae

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what GM Aurigae claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In astronomy, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to GM Aurigae before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about GM Aurigae ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of GM Aurigae

In research: GM Aurigae appears in astronomy research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses GM Aurigae in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: GM Aurigae is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Auriga, Circumstellar disks, Hypothetical planetary systems, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for GM Aurigae outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

Ask Teacher Smith questions about this articleOpens your AI tutor with a question about “GM Aurigae” →

Affiliate

Preply — study more efficiently by working with a personal tutor. 50% off.

How to study GM Aurigae in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what GM Aurigae means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain GM Aurigae out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is GM Aurigae in simple terms?

Why does GM Aurigae matter?

Because it connects several astronomy ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study GM Aurigae?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on GM Aurigae.