Abstract
We present 2007–2020 SpeX VISNIR spectral monitoring of the highly variable RW Aur A CTTS. We find direct evidence for a highly excited, IR-bright, asymmetric, and time-variable system. ...Comparison of the spectral and temporal trends found determines five different components: (1) a stable continuum from 0.7 to 1.3
μ
m, with color temperature ∼4000 K, produced by the CTTS photospheric surface; (2) variable hydrogen emission lines emitted from hot excited hydrogen in the CTTS’s protostellar atmosphere/accretion envelope; (3) hot CO gas in the CTTS’s protostellar atmosphere/accretion envelope; (4) highly variable 1.8–5.0
μ
m thermal continuum emission with color temperature ranging from 1130 to 1650 K, due to a surrounding accretion disk that is spatially variable and has an inner wall at
r
∼ 0.04 au and
T
∼ 1650 K and outer edges at ∼1200 K; and (5) transient, bifurcated signatures of abundant Fe
ii
+ associated S
i
, Si
i
, and Sr
i
in the system’s jet structures. The bifurcated signatures first appeared in 2015, but these collapsed and disappeared into a small single-peaked protostellar atmosphere feature by late 2020. The temporal evolution of RW Aur A’s spectral signatures is consistent with a dynamically excited CTTS system forming differentiated Vesta-sized planetesimals in an asymmetric accretion disk and migrating them inward to be destructively accreted. By contrast, nearby coeval binary companion RW Aur B evinces only a stable WTTS photospheric continuum from 0.7 to 1.3
μ
m + cold CO gas in absorption + stable 1.8–5.0
μ
m thermal disk continuum emission with color temperature ∼1650 K.
Pluto's haze as a surface material Grundy, W.M.; Bertrand, T.; Binzel, R.P. ...
Icarus (New York, N.Y. 1962),
11/2018, Volume:
314
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
•Haze settles rapidly onto Pluto's surface, yet there is color diversity.•Interaction of haze is explored for three distinct surface units.•Haze particles could evolve differently in different ...regions or haze particles with different characteristics arrive in different regions.
Pluto's atmospheric haze settles out rapidly compared with geological timescales. It needs to be accounted for as a surface material, distinct from Pluto's icy bedrock and from the volatile ices that migrate via sublimation and condensation on seasonal timescales. This paper explores how a steady supply of atmospheric haze might affect three distinct provinces on Pluto. We pose the question of why they each look so different from one another if the same haze material is settling out onto all of them. Cthulhu is a more ancient region with comparatively little present-day geological activity, where the haze appears to simply accumulate over time. Sputnik Planitia is a very active region where glacial convection, as well as sublimation and condensation rapidly refresh the surface, hiding recently deposited haze from view. Lowell Regio is a region of intermediate age featuring very distinct coloration from the rest of Pluto. Using a simple model haze particle as a colorant, we are not able to match the colors in both Lowell Regio and Cthulhu. To account for their distinct colors, we propose that after arrival at Pluto's surface, haze particles may be less inert than might be supposed from the low surface temperatures. They must either interact with local materials and environments to produce distinct products in different regions, or else the supply of haze must be non-uniform in time and/or location, such that different products are delivered to different places.
We present an analysis of the gas-poor circumstellar material in the HD 113766 binary system (F3/F5, 10-16 Myr), recently observed by the Spitzer Space Telescope. For our study we have used the IR ...mineralogical model derived from observations of the Deep Impact experiment. We find the dust dominated by warm, fine ( similar to 1 mu m) particles, abundant in Mg-rich olivine, crystalline pyroxenes, amorphous silicates, Fe-rich sulfides, amorphous carbon, and colder water ice. The warm dust material mix is akin to an inner main-belt asteroid of S-type composition. The similar to 440 K effective temperature of the warm dust implies that the bulk of the observed material is in a narrow belt similar to 1.8 AU from the 4.4 L unk central source, in the terrestrial planet-forming region and habitable zone of the system (equivalent to 0.9 AU in the solar system). The icy dust lies in two belts, located at 4-9 and 30-80 AU. The lower bound of warm dust mass in 0.1-20 mu m, unk similar to a super(-35) particles is very large, at least 3 x 10 super(20) kg, equivalent to a 320 km radius asteroid of 2.5 g cm super(-3) density. Assuming 10 m particles are the largest present, the lower bound of warm dust mass is at least 0.5 M sub(Mars). Neither primordial nor mature, the dust around HD 113766A originates from catastrophic disruption of terrestrial planet embryo(s) and subsequent grinding of the fragments or from collisions in a young, extremely dense asteroid belt undergoing planetary aggregation. The persistence of the strong IR excess over the last two decades argues for a mechanism to provide replenishment of the circumstellar material on yearly timescales.
We report here time-domain infrared spectroscopy and optical photometry of the HD 145263 silica-rich circumstellar-disk system taken from 2003 through 2014. We find an F4V host star surrounded by a ...stable, massive 1022-1023 kg (MMoon to MMars) 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 super-flare 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.
A detailed overview of the knowledge gaps in our understanding of the heliospheric interaction with the largely unexplored Very Local Interstellar Medium (VLISM) are provided along with predictions ...of with the scientific discoveries that await. The new measurements required to make progress in this expanding frontier of space physics are discussed and include in-situ plasma and pick-up ion measurements throughout the heliosheath, direct sampling of the VLISM properties such as elemental and isotopic composition, densities, flows, and temperatures of neutral gas, dust and plasma, and remote energetic neutral atom (ENA) and Lyman-alpha (LYA) imaging from vantage points that can uniquely discern the heliospheric shape and bring new information on the interaction with interstellar hydrogen. The implementation of a pragmatic Interstellar Probe mission with a nominal design life to reach 375 Astronomical Units (au) with likely operation out to 550 au are reported as a result of a 4-year NASA funded mission study.
ABSTRACT We have utilized the NASA/IRTF 3 m SpeX instrument's high-resolution spectral mode to observe and characterize the near-infrared flux emanating from the unusual Kepler light curve system KIC ...8462852. By comparing the resulting 0.8-4.2 m spectrum to a mesh of model photospheric spectra, the 6 emission line analyses of the Rayner et al. catalog, and the 25 system collections of debris disks we have observed to date using SpeX under the Near InfraRed Debris disk Survey, we have been able to additionally characterize the system. Within the errors of our measurements, this star looks like a normal solar abundance main-sequence F1V to F3V dwarf star without any obvious traces of significant circumstellar dust or gas. Using Connelley & Greene's emission measures, we also see no evidence of significant ongoing accretion onto the star nor any stellar outflow away from it. Our results are inconsistent with large amounts of static close-in obscuring material or the unusual behavior of a YSO system, but are consistent with the favored episodic giant comet models of a Gyr old stellar system favored by Boyajian et al. We speculate that KIC 8462852, like the ∼1.4 Gyr old F2V system Corvi, is undergoing a late heavy bombardment, but is only in its very early stages.
In 2010 Jewitt and Li published a paper examining the behavior of “comet-asteroid transition object” 3200 Phaethon, arguing it was asteroid-like in its behavior throughout most of its orbit, but that ...near its perihelion, at a distance of only 0.165 AU from the sun, its dayside temperatures would be hot enough to vaporize rock (>1000 K, Hanus et al. 2016). Thus it would act like a “rock comet” as gases produced from evaporating rock were released from the body, in a manner similar to the more familiar sublimation of water ice into vacuum seen for comets coming within ~3 AU of the Sun. In this Note we predict that the same thermal effects that would create “rock comet” behavior with Qgas ~ 1022 mol/s at perihelion have also helped to greatly bluen Phaethon's surface via preferential thermal alteration and sublimative removal of Fe and refractory organics, known reddening and darkening agents. These predictions are testable by searching for signs of spectral bluening of the surfaces of other small bodies in Phaethon-like small perihelion orbits, including comets, and by in situ measurements of Phaethon's surface and coma composition near perihelion with the upcoming DESTINY+ mission (Kawakatsu & Itawa 2013, Arai et al. 2018) to Phaethon by JAXA.
•Phaethon comes so close to the Sun that ~10 monolayers of volatile rocky material, nFe0 and pyroxene, sublimate each orbit•The loss of nanophase iron (nFe0) & refractory organics explains Phaethon's extremely blue surface color vs. other asteroids•The total loss rate of rocky material, ~1022 molecules/s at perihelion, can easily explain Phaethon's resurfacing•Other C-type (and C-subtype) asteroids on Phaethon-like orbits should be extremely blue and lossy as well
We have observed 152 nearby solar-type stars with the Infrared Spectrometer (IRS) on the Spitzer Space Telescope. Including stars that met our criteria but were observed in other surveys, we get an ...overall success rate for finding excesses in the long-wavelength IRS band (30-34 Delta *mm) of 11.8% +/- 2.4%. The success rate for excesses in the short-wavelength band (8.5-12 Delta *mm) is ~1% including sources from other surveys. For stars with no excess at 8.5-12 Delta *mm, the IRS data set 3 Delta *s limits of around 1000 times the level of zodiacal emission present in our solar system, while at 30-34 Delta *mm data set limits of around 100 times the level of our solar system. Two stars (HD 40136 and HD 10647) show weak evidence for spectral features; the excess emission in the other systems is featureless. If the emitting material consists of large (10 Delta *mm) grains as implied by the lack of spectral features, we find that these grains are typically located at or beyond the snow line, ~1-35 AU from the host stars, with an average distance of 14 +/- 6 AU; however, smaller grains could be located at significantly greater distances from the host stars. These distances correspond to dust temperatures in the range ~50-450 K. Several of the disks are well modeled by a single dust temperature, possibly indicative of a ring-like structure. However, a single dust temperature does not match the data for other disks in the sample, implying a distribution of temperatures within these disks. For most stars with excesses, we detect an excess at both IRS and Multiband Imaging Photometer for Spitzer (MIPS) wavelengths. Only three stars in this sample show a MIPS 70 Delta *mm excess with no IRS excess, implying that very cold dust is rare around solar-type stars.
The solar system currently possesses two remnant debris disks leftover from the planetary formation era in the form of the asteroid belt and the Edgeworth-Kuiper Belt (EKB). Similar to other stellar ...systems, these debris disks continually generate submillimeter-sized dust grains through processes such as mutual collisions, interstellar dust grain bombardment, and sublimation/sputtering of larger grains. Here, we use recent in situ measurements by the New Horizons Student Dust Counter and an interplanetary dust dynamics model to constrain the overall structure and magnitude of the solar system's debris disk, including the disk mass, optical depth, and surface brightness in both scattered light and thermal emission. We find that ∼99% of the solar system's dust disk mass (grains with diameter <1 mm) is contained within EKB and Oort Cloud cometary grains outside of 30 au, with the remaining ∼1% mass in the form of Jupiter-family cometary dust within 5 au. The total disk mass is estimated to be ∼8 × 10−7 M⊕ with a total fractional luminosity of ∼5 × 10−7, confirming our solar system as a relatively dust-poor system compared to debris disks around similar-aged FGK stars. Finally, we estimate that Kuiper Belt Object collisional events such as that which created the Haumea family could transiently increase the current surface brightness of our debris disk by a factor of only ∼6, far less than median brightnesses seen in other nearby disks. This further supports the idea that the EKB has been largely depleted of its primordial mass relative to other stellar systems by instabilities triggered by planetary migration.
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