One final object in the NGC2264 cluster for this week to see out the 7th year of this feature. We look at the star LX Mon this week. It is situated (in projection) just South of the main cluster.
We show the V, R, and I-band light curve of the star for the last observing season (2024-2025). Note that the R and V magnitudes are shifted as indicated in the legend for more clarity.
The light curve appears almost non-variable on longer timescales, but short term variations (up and down) are evident in the data. This pattern shows up in other years as well. At times the variations seem to be almost periodic. It will need some detailed investigations if that ‘period’ is the same or not when it shows up. If it were the same then we are seeing the rotation of the star and short lived spots on the surface. If the period changes then most likely the variations are caused by dust in the inner disk orbiting the star for a few orbital periods before being accreted/sheared/evaporated.