The serendipitous discovery of a debris disk around the A dwarf HD 46190

G.C. Sloan (Cornell), V. Charmandaris (Cornell and Chercheur Associe Obs. de Paris), S.B. Fajardo-Acosta, D.L. Shupe (Caltech/Spitzer Science Center), P.W. Morris (Caltech/SSC and NASA/Herchel Science Center), K.Y.L. Su (Steward Observatory), D.C. Hines (Space Science Institute), J. Rho (Caltech/SSC), C.W. Engelbracht (Steward Observatory)

2004, ApJ Letters, 614, L77

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The Infrared Spectrograph (IRS) on the Spitzer Space Telescope has observed several A dwarfs as potential standards and cross-calibrators, and one of these stars, HD 46190, shows the spectroscopic signature of a debris disk. The disk produces a spectral excess which can be fit with a cool blackbody of ~81 K. If the emitting particles are spherical blackbodies, they would lie at a distance of ~82 AU from the central star. The spectrum from the disk can also be fit with a spectrum rising proportionally with wavelength, and this spectral behavior is consistent with material falling into the inner disk due to Poynting-Robertson drag.

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Last modified 16 November, 2007. © Gregory C. Sloan and others.