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Episodic accretion is a low-mass pre-main sequence phenomenon characterized by sudden outbursts of enhanced accretion. These objects are classified into two: protostars with elevated levels of accretion that lasts for decades or more, called FUors, and protostars with shorter and repetitive bursts, called EXors. HBC 494 is a FUor object embedded in the Orion Molecular Cloud. Earlier Atacama Large (sub-)Millimeter Array (ALMA) continuum observations showed an asymmetry in the disc at 0${_{.}^{\prime\prime}}$2 resolution. Here, we present follow-up observations at ∼0${_{.}^{\prime\prime}}$03, resolving the system into two components: HBC 494 N (primary) and HBC 494 S (secondary). No circumbinary disc was detected. Both discs are resolved with a projected separation of ∼0${_{.}^{\prime\prime}}$18 (75 au). Their projected dimensions are 84 ± 1.8 × 66.9 ± 1.5 mas for HBC 494 N and 64.6 ± 2.5 × 46.0 ± 1.9 mas for HBC 494 S. The discs are almost aligned and with similar inclinations. The observations show that the primary is ∼5 times brighter/more massive and ∼2 times bigger than the secondary. We notice that the northern component has a similar mass to the FUors, while the southern has to EXors. The HBC 494 discs show individual sizes that are smaller than single eruptive YSOs. In this work, we also report 12CO, 13CO, and C18O molecular line observations. At large scale, the 12CO emission shows bipolar outflows, while the 13CO and C18O maps show a rotating and infalling envelope around the system. At a smaller scale, the 12CO and 13CO moment zero maps show cavities within the continuum discs’ area, which may indicate continuum over-subtraction or slow-moving jets and chemical destruction along the line of sight.

 

Abstract Observed changes in protostellar brightness can be complicated to interpret. In our James Clerk Maxwell Telescope (JCMT) Transient Monitoring Survey, we discovered that a young binary protostar, HOPS 373, is undergoing a modest 30% brightness increase at 850 μ m, caused by a factor of 1.8–3.3 enhancement in the accretion rate. The initial burst occurred over a few months, with a sharp rise and then a shallower decay. A second rise occurred soon after the decay, and the source is still bright one year later. The mid-IR emission, the small-scale CO outflow mapped with ALMA, and the location of variable maser emission indicate that the variability is associated with the SW component. The near-IR and NEOWISE W1 and W2 emission is located along the blueshifted CO outflow, spatially offset by ∼3 to 4″ from the SW component. The K -band emission imaged by UKIRT shows a compact H 2 emission source at the edge of the outflow, with a tail tracing the outflow back to the source. The W1 emission, likely dominated by scattered light, brightens by 0.7 mag, consistent with expectations based on the submillimeter light curve. The signal of continuum variability in K band and W2 is masked by stable H 2 emission, as seen in our Gemini/GNIRS spectrum, and perhaps by CO emission. These differences in emission sources complicate IR searches for variability of the youngest protostars.