Activity in the circumstellar envelope of the Be/shell star ζ Tau

Abstract

ζ Tau is a well-known V/R-variable shell star. It is a single-lined spectroscopic binary with an orbital period of 133 days (Harmanec 1984, and Jarad 1987). Delplace (1970) found that the long-term radial velocity variations of the Balmer shell absorption lines are cyclic in 1960–67. Subsequently, similar behaviour has been observed and studied by several authors (Delplace and Chambon 1976, Hubert-Delplace et al 1983, Harmanec 1984, and Guo and Cao 1987). Mon et al (1992) showed that the cyclic variation had terminated and the star seems to have entered a new quiet phase around 1982.