V light curve of RW Aur

RW Aur A is a classical T Tauri star, believed to have undergone a reconfiguration of its circumstellar environment as a consequence of a recent flyby of its stellar companion, RW Aur B. This interaction stripped away part of the circumstellar disk of RW Aur A, leaving a tidally disrupted "arm" and a short truncated circumstellar disk. We present photometric observations of the RW Aur system from the Kilodegree Extremely Little Telescope survey showing a long and deep dimming that occurred from 2010 September until 2011 March.

The dimming has a depth of ~2mag, a duration of ~180 days, and was confirmed by archival observations from American Association of Variable Star Observers. We suggest that this event is the result of a portion of the tidally disrupted disk occulting RW Aur A, specifically a fragment of the tidally disrupted arm. The calculated transverse linear velocity of the occulter is in excellent agreement with the measured relative radial velocity of the tidally disrupted arm.