415 research outputs found
GALEX Observations of CS and OH Emission in Comet 9P/Tempel 1 During Deep Impact
GALEX observations of comet 9P/Tempel 1 using the near ultraviolet (NUV)
objective grism were made before, during and after the Deep Impact event that
occurred on 2005 July 4 at 05:52:03 UT when a 370 kg NASA spacecraft was
maneuvered into the path of the comet. The NUV channel provides usable spectral
information in a bandpass covering 2000 - 3400 A with a point source spectral
resolving power of approximately 100. The primary spectral features in this
range include solar continuum scattered from cometary dust and emissions from
OH and CS molecular bands centered near 3085 and 2575 A, respectively. In
particular, we report the only cometary CS emission detected during this event.
The observations allow the evolution of these spectral features to be tracked
over the period of the encounter. In general, the NUV emissions observed from
Tempel 1 are much fainter than those that have been observed by GALEX from
other comets. However, it is possible to derive production rates for the parent
molecules of the species detected by GALEX in Tempel 1 and to determine the
number of these molecules liberated by the impact. The derived quiescent
production rates are Q(H2O) = 6.4e27 molecules/s and Q(CS2) = 6.7e24
molecules/s, while the impact produced an additional 1.6e32 H2O molecules and
1.3e29 CS2 molecules, a similar ratio as in quiescent outgassing.Comment: 15 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication in the Astrophysical
Journa
A Search for EUV Emission from Comets with the Cosmic Hot Interstellar Plasma Spectrometer (CHIPS)
We have obtained EUV spectra between 90 and 255 \AA of the cometsC/2002 T7
(LINEAR), C/2001 Q4 (NEAT), and C/2004 Q2 (Machholz) near their perihelion
passages in 2004 with the Cosmic Hot Interstellar Plasma Spectrometer (CHIPS).
We obtained contemporaneous data on Comet NEAT Q4 with the X-ray
Observatory ACIS instrument, marking the first simultaneous EUV and X-ray
spectral observations of a comet. The total CHIPS/EUV observing times were 337
ks for Q4, 234 ks for T7, and 483 ks for Machholz and for both CHIPS and
we calculate we have captured all the comet flux in the instrument
field of view. We set upper limits on solar wind charge exchange emission lines
of O, C, N, Ne and Fe occurring in the spectral bandpass of CHIPS. The spectrum
of Q4 obtained with can be reproduced by modeling emission lines of
C, N O, Mg, Fe, Si, S, and Ne solar wind ions. The measured X-ray emission line
intensities are consistent with our predictions from a solar wind charge
exchange model. The model predictions for the EUV emission line intensities are
determined from the intensity ratios of the cascading X-ray and EUV photons
arising in the charge exchange processes. They are compatible with the measured
limits on the intensities of the EUV lines. For comet Q4, we measured a total
X-ray flux of 3.7 ergs cm s, and derive from
model predictions a total EUV flux of 1.5 erg cm
s. The CHIPS observations occurred predominantly while the satellite was
on the dayside of Earth. For much of the observing time, CHIPS performed
observations at smaller solar angles than it was designed for and EUV emission
from the Sun scattered into the instrument limited the sensitivity of the EUV
measurements.Comment: 28 pages total, 4 tables, 7 figures. Accepted by The Astrophysical
Journa
Candidate Pre-Mainsequence F Stars with Circumstellar Dust Identified Using Combined 2MASS and uvby Data
We propose a method that uses near-infrared plus uvby photometry to identify
potentially extensive circumstellar dusty environment about F and A stars. The
method has been applied to a sample of ~900 metal rich reddened F stars with
2MASS and uvby data, suggesting the presence of circumstellar dust emitting in
the near infrared for ~70 stars. The log T_e - M_V diagram suggests that most,
if not all, of them are likely pre-mainsequence (PMS). They seem to be
consistent with being a continuation of the class of Herbig Ae/Be PMS stars
into the spectral type F. Their number drops sharply downward of log T_e ~ 3.84
(spectral types later than ~F5), which may provide new clues to the PMS
evolution of stars with 1 to 2 solar mass. We present a list of 21 most
conspicuous candidate stars with circumstellar dust. About half of them are
associated with the extended star-forming region around rho Oph. The brightest
of these 21 stars, with V < 7.5, turn out to be IRAS sources, suggesting the
presence of heated dust emitting in the far infrared. Also in this list, HD
81270 is reported as a very unusual star moving away from the Galactic plane at
a projected speed of 70 km/sec.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures, 1 table. To appear in ApJ, part 2, v. 570, 2002
May
Transient dust in warm debris disks - Detection of Fe-rich olivine grains
(Abridged) Debris disks trace remnant reservoirs of leftover planetesimals in
planetary systems. A handful of "warm" debris disks have been discovered in the
last years, where emission in excess starts in the mid-infrared. An interesting
subset within these warm debris disks are those where emission features are
detected in mid-IR spectra, which points towards the presence of warm
micron-sized dust grains. Given the ages of the host stars, the presence of
these grains is puzzling, and questions their origin and survival in time. This
study focuses on determining the mineralogy of the dust around 7 debris disks
with evidence for warm dust, based on Spitzer/IRS spectroscopic data, in order
to provide new insights into the origin of the dust grains. We present a new
radiative transfer code dedicated to SED modeling of optically thin disks. We
make use of this code on the SEDs of seven warm debris disks, in combination
with recent laboratory experiments on dust optical properties. We find that
most, if not all, debris disks in our sample are experiencing a transient
phase, suggesting a production of small dust grains on relatively short
timescales. From a mineralogical point of view, we find that enstatite grains
have small abundances compared to crystalline olivine grains. The main result
of our study is that we find evidences for Fe-rich crystalline olivine grains
(Fe / [Mg + Fe] ~ 0.2) for several debris disks. This finding contrasts with
studies of gas-rich protoplanetary disks. The presence of Fe-rich olivine
grains, and the overall differences between the mineralogy of dust in Class II
disks compared to debris disks suggest that the transient crystalline dust is
of a new generation. We discuss possible crystallization routes to explain our
results, and comment on the mechanisms that may be responsible for the
production of small dust grains
A Self-Consistent Model of the Circumstellar Debris Created by a Giant Hypervelocity Impact in the HD172555 System
Spectral modeling of the large infrared excess in the Spitzer IRS spectra of
HD 172555 suggests that there is more than 10^19 kg of sub-micron dust in the
system. Using physical arguments and constraints from observations, we rule out
the possibility of the infrared excess being created by a magma ocean planet or
a circumplanetary disk or torus. We show that the infrared excess is consistent
with a circumstellar debris disk or torus, located at approximately 6 AU, that
was created by a planetary scale hypervelocity impact. We find that radiation
pressure should remove submicron dust from the debris disk in less than one
year. However, the system's mid-infrared photometric flux, dominated by
submicron grains, has been stable within 4 percent over the last 27 years, from
IRAS (1983) to WISE (2010). Our new spectral modeling work and calculations of
the radiation pressure on fine dust in HD 172555 provide a self-consistent
explanation for this apparent contradiction. We also explore the unconfirmed
claim that 10^47 molecules of SiO vapor are needed to explain an emission
feature at 8 um in the Spitzer IRS spectrum of HD 172555. We find that unless
there are 10^48 atoms or 0.05 Earth masses of atomic Si and O vapor in the
system, SiO vapor should be destroyed by photo-dissociation in less than 0.2
years. We argue that a second plausible explanation for the 8 um feature can be
emission from solid SiO, which naturally occurs in submicron silicate "smokes"
created by quickly condensing vaporized silicate.Comment: Accepted to the Astrophysical Journa
HD 145263: Spectral Observations of Silica Debris Disk Formation via Extreme Space Weathering?
We report here time domain infrared spectroscopy and optical photometry of
the HD145263 silica-rich circumstellar disk system taken from 2003 through
2014. We find an F4V host star surrounded by a stable, massive 1e22 - 1e23 kg
(M_Moon to M_Mars) dust disk. No disk gas was detected, and the primary star
was seen rotating with a rapid ~1.75 day period. After resolving a problem with
previously reported observations, we find the silica, Mg-olivine, and
Fe-pyroxene mineralogy of the dust disk to be stable throughout, and very
unusual compared to the ferromagnesian silicates typically found in primordial
and debris disks. By comparison with mid-infrared spectral features of
primitive solar system dust, we explore the possibility that HD 145263's
circumstellar dust mineralogy occurred with preferential destruction of
Fe-bearing olivines, metal sulfides, and water ice in an initially comet-like
mineral mix and their replacement by Fe-bearing pyroxenes, amorphous pyroxene,
and silica. We reject models based on vaporizing optical stellar megaflares,
aqueous alteration, or giant hypervelocity impacts as unable to produce the
observed mineralogy. Scenarios involving unusually high Si abundances are at
odds with the normal stellar absorption near-infrared feature strengths for Mg,
Fe, and Si. Models involving intense space weathering of a thin surface patina
via moderate (T < 1300 K) heating and energetic ion sputtering due to a stellar
superflare from the F4V primary are consistent with the observations. The space
weathered patina should be reddened, contain copious amounts of nanophase Fe,
and should be transient on timescales of decades unless replenished.Comment: 41 Pages, 5 Figures, 5 Tables, Accepted for publication in the
Astrophysical Journa
Abundant Circumstellar Silica Dust and SiO Gas Created by a Giant Hypervelocity Collision in the ~12 Myr HD172555 System
The fine dust detected by IR emission around the nearby Beta Pic analogue
star HD172555 is very peculiar. The dust mineralogy is composed primarily of
highly refractory, non-equilibrium materials, with approximately three-quarters
of the Si atoms in silica (SiO2) species. Tektite and obsidian lab thermal
emission spectra (non-equilibrium glassy silicas found in impact and magmatic
systems) are required to fit the data. The best-fit model size distribution for
the observed fine dust is dn/da = a-3.95 +/- 0.10. This steep a size
distribution, with abundant micron-sized particles, argues for a fresh source
of material within the last 0.1 Myr. The location of the dust with respect to
the star is at 5.8 +/- 0.6 AU (equivalent to 1.9 +/- 0.2 AU from the Sun),
within the terrestrial planet formation region but at the outer edge of any
possible terrestrial habitability zone. The mass of fine dust is 4 x 10^19 - 2
x 10^20 kg, equivalent to a 150 - 200 km radius asteroid. Significant emission
features centered at 4 and 8 um due to fluorescing SiO gas are also found.
Roughly 10^22 kg of SiO gas, formed by vaporizing silicate rock, is also
present in the system, and a separate population of very large, cool grains,
massing 10^21 - 10^22 kg and equivalent to the largest sized asteroid currently
found in the Solar System's main asteroid belt, dominates the solid
circumstellar material by mass. The makeup of the observed dust and gas, and
the noted lack of a dense circumstellar gas disk, strong primary x-ray
activity, or an extended disk of Beta-meteroids argues that the source of the
observed circumstellar materials is a giant hypervelocity (> 10 km sec^-1)
impact between large rocky planetesimals, similar to the ones which formed the
Moon and which stripped the surface crustal material off of Mercury's surface.Comment: 48 Pages, 8 Figures, 4 Tables Accepted for Publication in the
Astrophysical Journal 13-Jun-2009 References, Figures Updated 16-Jun-200
Spitzer Evidence for a Late Heavy Bombardment and the Formation of Urelites in {eta}Corvi at Approximately 1 Gyr
We have analyzed Spitzer and NASA/IRTF 2 - 35 micrometer spectra of the warm, ~350 K circumstellar dust around the nearby MS star eta Corvi (F2V, 1.4 plus or minus 0.3 Gyr). The spectra show clear evidence for warm, water- and carbon-rich dust at ~3 AU from the central star, in the system's Terrestrial Habitability Zone. Spectral features due to ultra-primitive cometary material were found, in addition to features due to impact produced silica and high temperature carbonaceous phases. At least 9 x 10(exp 18) kg of 0.1 - 100 micrometer warm dust is present in a collisional equilibrium distribution with dn/da ~ a(exp -3.5), the equivalent of a 130 km radius KBO of 1.0 grams per cubic centimeter density and similar to recent estimates of the mass delivered to the Earth at 0.6 - 0.8 Gyr during the Late Heavy Bombardment. We conclude that the parent body was a Kuiper-Belt body or bodies which captured a large amount of early primitive material in the first Myrs of the system's lifetime and preserved it in deep freeze at approximately 150 AU. At approximately 1.4 Gyr they were prompted by dynamical stirring of their parent Kuiper Belt into spiraling into the inner system, eventually colliding at 5-10 kilometers per second with a rocky planetary body of mass less than or equal to M(sub Earth at approximately 3 AU, delivering large amounts of water (greater than 0.1 % of M(sub Earth's Oceans)) and carbon-rich material. The Spitzer spectrum also closely matches spectra reported for the Ureilite meteorites of the Sudan Almahata Sitta fall in 2008, suggesting that one of the Ureilite parent bodies was a KBO
Laboratory simulation of cometary x rays using a high-resolution microcalorimeter
X-ray emission following charge exchange has been studied on the University
of California Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory electron beam ion traps
EBIT-I and EBIT-II using a high-resolution microcalorimeter. The measured
spectra include the K-shell emission from hydrogenlike and heliumlike C, N, O,
and Ne needed for simulations of cometary x-ray emission. A comparison of the
spectra produced in the interaction of O8+ with N2 and CH4 is presented that
illustrates the dependence of the observed spectrum on the interaction gas.Comment: 11 pages, 2 figure
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