Dust formation in a galaxy with primitive abundances

G.C. Sloan, (Cornell), M. Matsuura (National Astron. Obs. of Japan, Univ. College London), A.A. Zijlstra (Univ. of Manchester), E. Lagadec (Univ. of Manchester), M.A.T. Groenewegen (Royal. Obs. Belgium), P.R. Wood (Australian National Univ.), C. Szyszka (Univ. of Manchester), J. Bernard-Salas (Cornell), J.Th. van Loon (Univ. of Keele)

2009, Science, 323, 353

Full manuscript available from Science (for free!).

Interstellar dust plays a crucial role in the evolution of galaxies. It governs the chemistry and physics of the interstellar medium. In the local universe, dust forms primarily in the ejecta from stars, but its composition and origin in galaxies at very early times remain controversial. We report observational evidence of dust forming around a carbon star in a nearby galaxy with a low abundance of heavy elements, 25 times lower than the solar abundance. The production of dust by a carbon star in a galaxy with such primitive abundances raises the possibility that carbon stars contributed carbonaceous dust in the early universe.

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Last modified 4 October, 2011. © Gregory C. Sloan and others.