BF Orionis

BF Orionis is a young Herbig Ae/Be star in the constellation of Orion about away, within the Orion Nebula. It is the most massive star of the small birth cluster of four stars.

Properties

BF Orionis is a Herbig Ae/Be star variable similar to UX Orionis. It is still accreting mass, producing about 2 through the release of gravitational energy, and is surrounded by a massive, optically thick protoplanetary disk of 0.005 visible nearly edge-on. The brightness of the star is strongly variable, with irregular deep minima down to 13th magnitude. The variations are suspected to be partly caused by a brown dwarf or massive planet embedded in the protoplanetary disk, together with very large comets.
Unlike typical Herbig Ae/Be stars, 90-95% of which do not have detectable magnetic fields, BF Orionis has a fairly strong longitudinal magnetic field of −144 gauss. It also has small short-period, single-mode pulsations of the Delta [Scuti variable|Delta Scuti] type.