The β Pictoris disk imaged by Herschel PACS and SPIRE [Letter]

Vandenbussche, B., Sibthorpe, B., Acke, B., Pantin, E., Olofsson, G., Waelkens, C., Dominik, C., Barlow, M. J., Blommaert, J. A. D. L., Bouwman, J., Brandeker, A., Cohen, M., De Meester, W., Dent, W. R. F., Exter, K., Di Francesco, J., Fridlund, M., Gear, Walter Kieran ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6789-6196, Glauser, A. M., Gomez, Haley Louise ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3398-0052, Greaves, J. S., Hargrave, Peter Charles ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3109-6629, Harvey, P. M., Henning, Th., Heras, A. M., Hogerheijde, M. R., Holland, W. S., Huygen, R., Ivison, R. J., Jean, C., Leeks, S. J., Lim, T. L., Liseau, R., Matthews, B. C., Naylor, D. A., Pilbratt, G. L., Polehampton, E. T., Regibo, S., Royer, P., Sicilia-Aguilar, A., Swinyard, B. M., Walker, H. J. and Wesson, R. 2010. The β Pictoris disk imaged by Herschel PACS and SPIRE [Letter]. Astronomy and Astrophysics 518 , L133. 10.1051/0004-6361/201014626

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Abstract

We obtained Herschel PACS and SPIRE images of the thermal emission of the debris disk around the A5V star β Pic. The disk is well resolved in the PACS filters at 70, 100, and 160 μm. The surface brightness profiles between 70 and 160 μm show no significant asymmetries along the disk, and are compatible with 90% of the emission between 70 and 160 μm originating in a region closer than 200 AU to the star. Although only marginally resolving the debris disk, the maps obtained in the SPIRE 250–500 μm filters provide full-disk photometry, completing the SED over a few octaves in wavelength that had been previously inaccessible. The small far-infrared spectral index (β = 0.34) indicates that the grain size distribution in the inner disk (<200 AU) is inconsistent with a local collisional equilibrium. The size distribution is either modified by non-equilibrium effects, or exhibits a wavy pattern, caused by an under-abundance of impactors which have been removed by radiation pressure.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Physics and Astronomy
Subjects:	Q Science > QB Astronomy
Uncontrolled Keywords:	stars: early-type / planetary systems / circumstellar matter / stars: individual: β Pic
Publisher:	EDP Sciences
ISSN:	0004-6361
Last Modified:	04 May 2023 18:35
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/22134

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