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  • Detection of Exocometary CO...
    Matrà, L.; MacGregor, M. A.; Kalas, P.; Wyatt, M. C.; Kennedy, G. M.; Wilner, D. J.; Duchene, G.; Hughes, A. M.; Pan, M.; Shannon, A.; Clampin, M.; Fitzgerald, M. P.; Graham, J. R.; Holland, W. S.; Pani, O.; Su, K. Y. L.

    The Astrophysical journal, 06/2017, Letnik: 842, Številka: 1
    Journal Article

    Recent Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array observations present mounting evidence for the presence of exocometary gas released within Kuiper Belt analogs around nearby main-sequence stars. This represents a unique opportunity to study their ice reservoir at the younger ages when volatile delivery to planets is most likely to occur. We here present the detection of CO J = 2-1 emission colocated with dust emission from the cometary belt in the 440 Myr old Fomalhaut system. Through spectrospatial filtering, we achieve a 5.4 detection and determine that the ring's sky-projected rotation axis matches that of the star. The CO mass derived ( ) is the lowest of any circumstellar disk detected to date and must be of exocometary origin. Using a steady-state model, we estimate the CO+CO2 mass fraction of exocomets around Fomalhaut to be between 4.6% and 76%, consistent with solar system comets and the two other belts known to host exocometary gas. This is the first indication of a similarity in cometary compositions across planetary systems that may be linked to their formation scenario and is consistent with direct interstellar medium inheritance. In addition, we find tentative evidence that % of the detected flux originates from a region near the eccentric belt's pericenter. If confirmed, the latter may be explained through a recent impact event or CO pericenter glow due to exocometary release within a steady-state collisional cascade. In the latter scenario, we show how the azimuthal dependence of the CO release rate leads to asymmetries in gas observations of eccentric exocometary belts.