New Debris-Disk Candidates: 24 Micron Stellar Excesses at 100 Million years
Abstract
Sixty-three members of the 100 Myr old open cluster M47 (NGC 2422) have been detected at 24 μm with the Spitzer Space Telescope. The Be star V 378 Pup shows an excess both in the near-infrared and at 24 μm (K-[24]=2.4 mag), probably due to free-free emission from the gaseous envelope. Seven other early-type stars show smaller excesses, K-[24]=0.6-0.9. Among late-type stars, two show large excesses: P922, a K1 V star with K-[24]=1.08+/-0.11, and P1121, an F9 V star with K-[24]=3.72+/-0.02. P1121 is the first known main-sequence star showing an excess comparable to that of β Pic, which may indicate the presence of an exceptionally massive debris disk. It is possible that a major planetesimal collision has occurred in this system, consistent with the few hundred Myr timescales estimated for the clearing of the solar system.
- Publication:
-
The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series
- Pub Date:
- September 2004
- DOI:
- 10.1086/422822
- arXiv:
- arXiv:astro-ph/0406041
- Bibcode:
- 2004ApJS..154..448G
- Keywords:
-
- Infrared: Stars;
- Galaxy: Open Clusters and Associations: Individual: Messier Number: M47;
- Stars: Planetary Systems: Protoplanetary Disks;
- Astrophysics
- E-Print:
- 14 pages, 3 figures, accepted to the special Spitzer issue of the ApJS