Visible Spectra of the Central Stars of Proplyds in Orion
Abstract
The Orion proplyds are of astrophysical interest because they offer a unique opportunity to study important aspects of protostellar and protoplanetary evolution. Proplyds offer the only opportunity known in which to study the effects of external ionization on this phase of young stellar object disk evolution in an external environment like that of the early Solar System.
Most proplyds have central stars or starlike objects visible in HST WFPC V continuum or narrow-band filters. The physical properties of the central stars are of interest in fully understanding these systems. Some of the observable IR SED of the disk comes from reprocessed emission from the central star and thus depends on central star properties. Also, accretion rates and disk lifetimes are affected by the mass of the central star. We obtained one spectrum each of three central stars (218-354, 164-510, and 171-340) using the HST STIS instrument. With a spatial resolution of 0.05 arcsecond per pixel STIS easily resolved the central star in all three objects. The spatial resolution of STIS also permits a much more accurate subtraction of the bright nebular background than is possible with ground-based observations. Nebular contamination can be a significant source of error in performing spectral classification. We have completed our analysis and will report on the spectral types, masses, and luminosities for the three central stars.- Publication:
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American Astronomical Society Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2006
- Bibcode:
- 2006AAS...20921918C