17 research outputs found

    An Optical/Near-infrared Investigation of HD 100546 b with the Gemini Planet Imager and MagAO

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    We present H band spectroscopic and Hα photometric observations of HD 100546 obtained with the Gemini Planet Imager and the Magellan Visible AO camera. We detect H band emission at the location of the protoplanet HD 100546 b, but show that the choice of data processing parameters strongly affects the morphology of this source. It appears point-like in some aggressive reductions, but rejoins an extended disk structure in the majority of the others. Furthermore, we demonstrate that this emission appears stationary on a timescale of 4.6 years, inconsistent at the 2σ level with a Keplerian clockwise orbit at 59 au in the disk plane. The H band spectrum of the emission is inconsistent with any type of low effective temperature object or accreting protoplanetary disk. It strongly suggests a scattered-light origin, as this is consistent with the spectrum of the star and the spectra extracted at other locations in the disk. A non-detection at the 5σ level of HD 100546 b in differential Hα imaging places an upper limit, assuming the protoplanet lies in a gap free of extinction, on the accretion luminosity of 1.7 × 10−4 L ⊙ and MM˙<6.3×107MJup2yr1M\dot{M}\lt 6.3\times {10}^{-7}\,{M}_{\mathrm{Jup}}^{2}\,{\mathrm{yr}}^{-1} for 1 R Jup. These limits are comparable to the accretion luminosity and accretion rate of T-Tauri stars or LkCa 15 b. Taken together, these lines of evidence suggest that the H band source at the location of HD 100546 b is not emitted by a planetary photosphere or an accreting circumplanetary disk but is a disk feature enhanced by the point-spread function subtraction process. This non-detection is consistent with the non-detection in the K band reported in an earlier study but does not exclude the possibility that HD 100546 b is deeply embedded

    Direct imaging of an asymmetric debris disk in the HD 106906 planetary system

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    We present the first scattered light detections of the HD 106906 debris disk using the Gemini/Gemini Planet Imager in the infrared and Hubble Space Telescope (HST)/Advanced Camera for Surveys in the optical. HD 106906 is a 13 Myr old F5V star in the Sco-Cen association, with a previously detected planet-mass candidate HD 106906b projected 650 AU from the host star. Our observations reveal a near edge-on debris disk that has a central cleared region with radius 3c50 AU, and an outer extent >500 AU. The HST data show that the outer regions are highly asymmetric, resembling the "needle" morphology seen for the HD 15115 debris disk. The planet candidate is oriented 3c21\ub0 away from the position angle of the primary's debris disk, strongly suggesting non-coplanarity with the system. We hypothesize that HD 106906b could be dynamically involved in the perturbation of the primary's disk, and investigate whether or not there is evidence for a circumplanetary dust disk or cloud that is either primordial or captured from the primary. We show that both the existing optical properties and near-infrared colors of HD 106906b are weakly consistent with this possibility, motivating future work to test for the observational signatures of dust surrounding the planet. \ua9 2015. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved..Peer reviewed: YesNRC publication: Ye
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