2023AJ....166...24S

We have examined internight variability of K2-discovered “dippers” that are not close to being viewed edge-on, as determined from previously reported ALMA images, using the SpeX spectrograph on NASA's Infrared Telescope Facility. The three objects observed were EPIC 203850058, EPIC 205151387, and EPIC 204638512 (=2MASS J16042165-2130284). Using the ratio of the fluxes between two successive nights, we find that for EPIC 204638512 and EPIC 205151387, we find that the properties of the dust differ from that seen in the diffuse interstellar medium and denser molecular clouds. However, the grain properties needed to explain the extinction does resemble those used to model the disks of many young stellar objects. The wavelength-dependent extinction models of both EPIC 204638512 and EPIC 205151387 includes grains at least 500 μm in size, but lacks grains smaller than 0.25 μm. The change in extinction during the dips, and the timescale for these variations to occur, imply obscuration by the surface layers of the inner disks. The recent discovery of a highly misinclined inner disk in EPIC 204638512 is suggests that the variations in this disk system may point to due to rapid changes in obscuration by the surface layers of its inner disk, and that other “face-on” dippers might have similar geometries. The He I line at 1.083 μm in EPIC 205151387 and EPIC 20463851 were seen to change from night to night, suggesting that we are seeing He I gas mixed in with the surface dust.