67 research outputs found
Spitzer Observations of Interstellar Object 1I/`Oumuamua
1I/`Oumuamua is the first confirmed interstellar body in our Solar System.
Here we report on observations of `Oumuamua made with the Spitzer Space
Telescope on 2017 November 21--22 (UT). We integrated for 30.2~hours at 4.5
micron (IRAC channel 2). We did not detect the object and place an upper limit
on the flux of 0.3 uJy (3sigma). This implies an effective spherical diameter
less than [98, 140, 440] meters and albedo greater than [0.2, 0.1, 0.01] under
the assumption of low, middle, or high thermal beaming parameter eta,
respectively. With an aspect ratio for `Oumuamua of 6:1, these results
correspond to dimensions of [240:40, 341:57, 1080:180] meters, respectively. We
place upper limits on the amount of dust, CO, and CO2 coming from this object
that are lower than previous results; we are unable to constrain the production
of other gas species. Both our size and outgassing limits are important because
`Oumuamua's trajectory shows non-gravitational accelerations that are sensitive
to size and mass and presumably caused by gas emission. We suggest that
`Oumuamua may have experienced low-level post-perihelion volatile emission that
produced a fresh, bright, icy mantle. This model is consistent with the
expected eta value and implied high albedo value for this solution, but, given
our strict limits on CO and CO2, requires another gas species --- probably H2O
--- to explain the observed non-gravitational acceleration. Our results extend
the mystery of `Oumuamua's origin and evolution
SOFIA FORCAST Grism Study of the Mineralogy of Dust in the Winds of Proto-planetary Nebulae: RV Tauri Stars and SRd Variables
We present a SOFIA FORCAST grism spectroscopic survey to examine the mineralogy of the circumstellar dust
in a sample of post-asymptotic giant branch (post-AGB) yellow supergiants that are believed to be the precursors
of planetary nebulae. Our mineralogical model of each star indicates the presence of both carbon-rich and oxygenrich dust speciesâcontrary to simple dredge-up modelsâwith a majority of the dust in the form of amorphous
carbon and graphite. The oxygen-rich dust is primarily in the form of amorphous silicates. The spectra do not
exhibit any prominent crystalline silicate emission features. For most of the systems, our analysis suggests that the
grains are relatively large and have undergone significant processing, supporting the hypothesis that the dust is
confined to a Keplerian disk and that we are viewing the heavily processed, central regions of the disk from a
nearly face-on orientation. These results help to determine the physical properties of the post-AGB circumstellar
environment and to constrain models of post-AGB mass loss and planetary nebula formatio
Variability of disk emission in pre-main sequence and related stars. II. Variability in the gas and dust emission of the Herbig Fe star SAO 206462
This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from the publisher via the DOI in this record.We present 13 epochs of near-infrared (0.8-5 ÎŒm) spectroscopic observations of the pre-transitional, "gapped" disk system in SAO 206462 (=HD 135344B). In all, six gas emission lines (Brα, BrÎł, PaÎČ, PaÎł, PaÎŽ, Paepsilon, and the 0.8446 ÎŒm line of O I) along with continuum measurements made near the standard J, H, K, and L photometric bands were measured. A mass accretion rate of approximately 2 Ă 10â8 M â yrâ1 was derived from the BrÎł and PaÎČ lines. However, the fluxes of these lines varied by a factor of over two during the course of a few months. The continuum also varied, but by only ~30%, and even decreased at a time when the gas emission was increasing. The H I line at 1.083 ÎŒm was also found to vary in a manner inconsistent with that of either the hydrogen lines or the dust. Both the gas and dust variabilities indicate significant changes in the region of the inner gas and the inner dust belt that may be common to many young disk systems. If planets are responsible for defining the inner edge of the gap, they could interact with the material on timescales commensurate with what is observed for the variations in the dust, while other disk instabilities (thermal, magnetorotational) would operate there on longer timescales than we observe for the inner dust belt. For SAO 206462, the orbital period would likely be 1-3 years. If the changes are being induced in the disk material closer to the star than the gap, a variety of mechanisms (disk instabilities, interactions via planets) might be responsible for the changes seen. The He I feature is most likely due to a wind whose orientation changes with respect to the observer on timescales of a day or less. To further constrain the origin of the gas and dust emission will require multiple spectroscopic and interferometric observations on both shorter and longer timescales that have been sampled so far.This work was supported by NASA ADP grants NNH06CC28C and NNX09AC73G, Hubble Space Telescope grants HST-GO-10764 and HST-GO-10864, Chilean National TAC grants CNTAC-010A-064
A Suborbital Payload for Soft X-ray Spectroscopy of Extended Sources
We present a suborbital rocket payload capable of performing soft X-ray
spectroscopy on extended sources. The payload can reach resolutions of
~100(lambda/dlambda) over sources as large as 3.25 degrees in diameter in the
17-107 angstrom bandpass. This permits analysis of the overall energy balance
of nearby supernova remnants and the detailed nature of the diffuse soft X-ray
background. The main components of the instrument are: wire grid collimators,
off-plane grating arrays and gaseous electron multiplier detectors. This
payload is adaptable to longer duration orbital rockets given its comparatively
simple pointing and telemetry requirements and an abundance of potential
science targets.Comment: Accepted to Experimental Astronomy, 12 pages plus 1 table and 17
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ALMA observations of the η Corvi debris disc: Inward scattering of CO-rich exocomets by a chain of 3-30 Mâ planets?
While most of the known debris discs present cold dust at tens of astronomical unit (au), a few young systems exhibit hot dust analogous to the Zodiacal dust. η Corvi is particularly interesting as it is old and it has both, with its hot dust significantly exceeding the maximum luminosity of an in situ collisional cascade. Previous work suggested that this system could be undergoing an event similar to the Late Heavy Bombardment (LHB) soon after or during a dynamical instability. Here, we present ALMA observations of η Corvi with a resolution of 1.2 arcsec (~22 au) to study its outer belt. The continuum emission is consistent with an axisymmetric belt, with a mean radius of 152 au and radial full width at half-maximum of 46 au, which is too narrow compared to models of inward scattering of an LHB-like scenario. Instead, the hot dust could be explained as material passed inwards in a rather stable planetary configuration. We also report a 4Ï detection of CO at ~20 au. CO could be released in situ from icy planetesimals being passed in when crossing the H2O or CO2 ice lines. Finally, we place constraints on hidden planets in the disc. If a planet is sculpting the disc's inner edge, this should be orbiting at 75-100 au, with a mass of 3-30Mâ and an eccentricity < 0.08. Such a planet would be able to clear its chaotic zone on a time-scale shorter than the age of the system and scatter material inwards from the outer belt to the inner regions, thus feeding the hot dust.ALMA is a partnership of ESO (representing its member states), NSF (USA) and NINS (Japan), together with NRC (Canada) and NSC and ASIAA (Taiwan) and KASI (Republic of Korea), in cooperation with the Republic of Chile. The Joint ALMA Observatory is operated by ESO, AUI/NRAO and NAOJ. MCW, LM, AB and QK acknowledge the support of the European Union through ERC grant number 279973. LM also acknowledges support by STFC through a graduate studentship. The work of OP is supported by the Royal Society Dorothy Hodgkin Fellowship. GMK is supported by the Royal Society as a Royal Society University Research Fellow
Differences in the gas and dust distribution in the transitional disk of a sun-like young star, PDS 70
This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from the publisher via the DOI in this recordThe American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved. We present ALMA 0.87 mm continuum, HCO + J = 4-3 emission line, and CO J = 3-2 emission line data of the disk of material around the young, Sun-like star PDS 70. These data reveal the existence of a possible two-component transitional disk system with a radial dust gap of 0.âł42 ±0.âł05, an azimuthal gap in the HCO + J = 4-3 moment zero map, as well as two bridge-like features in the gas data. Interestingly these features in the gas disk have no analog in the dust disk making them of particular interest. We modeled the dust disk using the Monte Carlo radiative transfer code HOCHUNK3D using a two-disk component. We find that there is a radial gap that extends from 15 to 60 au in all grain sizes, which differs from previous work.This work is supported supported by the NASA XRP grants NNX17AF88G and NNX16AJ75G. MC thanks the support from the Centro de AstrofĂsica de ValparaĂso. S.K. acknowledges support from an STFC Rutherford Fellowship (ST/J004030/1) and ERC Starting Grant (Grant Agreement No. 639889). This work is supported by the Astrobiology Center Program of National Institutes of Natural Sciences (NINS) (Grant Number: AB281013) and by MEXT KAKENHI No. 17K05399 (EA). Y.H. is currently supported by Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under a contract from NASA. This paper makes use of the following ALMA data: ADS/JAO.ALMA#2015.1.00888.S. ALMA is a partnership of ESO (representing its member states), NSF (USA) and NINS (Japan), together with NRC (Canada), MOST and ASIAA (Taiwan), and KASI (Republic of Korea), in cooperation with the Republic of Chile. The Joint ALMA Observatory is operated by ESO, AUI/NRAO, and NAOJ. The National Radio Astronomy Observatory is a facility of the National Science Foundation operated under cooperative agreement by Associated Universities, In
Interception of comet Hyakutake's ion tail at a distance of 500 million kilometres
Remote sensing observations(1-5) and the direct sampling of material(6-8) from a few comets have established the characteristic composition of cometary gas. This gas is ionized by solar ultraviolet radiation and the solar wind to form 'pick-up' ions(9-11), ions in a low ionization state that retain the same compositional signatures as the original gas. The pick-up ions are carried outward by the solar wind, and they could in principle be detected far from the coma. (Sampling of pick-up ions has also been used to study interplanetary dust(12,13), Venus' tail(14) and the interstellar medium(15,16).) Here we report the serendipitous detection of cometary pick-up ions, most probably associated with the tail of comet Hyakutake, at a distance of 3.4 AU from the nucleus. Previous observations have provided a wealth of physical and chemical information about a small sample of comets(6-9), but this detection suggests that remote sampling of comet compositions, and the discovery of otherwise invisible comets, may be possible.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/62756/1/404576a0.pd
Debris Disks: Probing Planet Formation
Debris disks are the dust disks found around ~20% of nearby main sequence
stars in far-IR surveys. They can be considered as descendants of
protoplanetary disks or components of planetary systems, providing valuable
information on circumstellar disk evolution and the outcome of planet
formation. The debris disk population can be explained by the steady
collisional erosion of planetesimal belts; population models constrain where
(10-100au) and in what quantity (>1Mearth) planetesimals (>10km in size)
typically form in protoplanetary disks. Gas is now seen long into the debris
disk phase. Some of this is secondary implying planetesimals have a Solar
System comet-like composition, but some systems may retain primordial gas.
Ongoing planet formation processes are invoked for some debris disks, such as
the continued growth of dwarf planets in an unstirred disk, or the growth of
terrestrial planets through giant impacts. Planets imprint structure on debris
disks in many ways; images of gaps, clumps, warps, eccentricities and other
disk asymmetries, are readily explained by planets at >>5au. Hot dust in the
region planets are commonly found (<5au) is seen for a growing number of stars.
This dust usually originates in an outer belt (e.g., from exocomets), although
an asteroid belt or recent collision is sometimes inferred.Comment: Invited review, accepted for publication in the 'Handbook of
Exoplanets', eds. H.J. Deeg and J.A. Belmonte, Springer (2018
X-ray Studies of Exoplanets: A 2020 Decadal Survey White Paper
Over the last two decades, the discovery of exoplanets has fundamentally changed our perception of the universe and humanity's place within it. Recent work indicates that a solar system's X-ray and high energy particle environment is of fundamental importance to the formation and development of the atmospheres of close-in planets such as hot Jupiters, and Earth-like planets around M stars. X-ray imaging and spectroscopy provide powerful and unique windows into the high energy flux that an exoplanet experiences, and X-ray photons also serve as proxies for potentially transfigurative coronal mass ejections. Finally, if the host star is a bright enough X-ray source, transit measurements akin to those in the optical and infrared are possible and allow for direct characterization of the upper atmospheres of exoplanets. In this brief white paper, we discuss contributions to the study of exoplanets and their environs which can be made by X-ray data of increasingly high quality that are achievable in the next 10--15 years
Dusty Planetary Systems
Extensive photometric stellar surveys show that many main sequence stars show
emission at infrared and longer wavelengths that is in excess of the stellar
photosphere; this emission is thought to arise from circumstellar dust. The
presence of dust disks is confirmed by spatially resolved imaging at infrared
to millimeter wavelengths (tracing the dust thermal emission), and at optical
to near infrared wavelengths (tracing the dust scattered light). Because the
expected lifetime of these dust particles is much shorter than the age of the
stars (>10 Myr), it is inferred that this solid material not primordial, i.e.
the remaining from the placental cloud of gas and dust where the star was born,
but instead is replenished by dust-producing planetesimals. These planetesimals
are analogous to the asteroids, comets and Kuiper Belt objects (KBOs) in our
Solar system that produce the interplanetary dust that gives rise to the
zodiacal light (tracing the inner component of the Solar system debris disk).
The presence of these "debris disks" around stars with a wide range of masses,
luminosities, and metallicities, with and without binary companions, is
evidence that planetesimal formation is a robust process that can take place
under a wide range of conditions. This chapter is divided in two parts. Part I
discusses how the study of the Solar system debris disk and the study of debris
disks around other stars can help us learn about the formation, evolution and
diversity of planetary systems by shedding light on the frequency and timing of
planetesimal formation, the location and physical properties of the
planetesimals, the presence of long-period planets, and the dynamical and
collisional evolution of the system. Part II reviews the physical processes
that affect dust particles in the gas-free environment of a debris disk and
their effect on the dust particle size and spatial distribution.Comment: 68 pages, 25 figures. To be published in "Solar and Planetary
Systems" (P. Kalas and L. French, Eds.), Volume 3 of the series "Planets,
Stars and Stellar Systems" (T.D. Oswalt, Editor-in-chief), Springer 201
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