AU Mic’s Debris Disk Chemistry Revealed Using Spatially Resolved Spectroscopy
Abstract
We present the first coronagraphic spectroscopy of the AU Mic debris disk system obtained with HST/STIS as part of GO-12512. Spectra of the system were taken by placing a long slit in the disk direction while blocking out the central star with an occulting bar. A naked star of similar spectral type was likewise observed for a PSF subtraction. This procedure results in a two dimensional spectrum as a function of disk position between 5200 and 10,200 angstroms for the system. We use the spectra to determine the cold dust grain composition by characterizing the system's color as a function of radial distance along the disk's midplane. This reveals the dynamical perturbations and chemical processing occurring within the disk and traces the potential composition and architecture of any planetary bodies in the system because the planetesimals that form planets produce the observed dust through collisional break up and evaporation.
- Publication:
-
American Astronomical Society Meeting Abstracts #225
- Pub Date:
- January 2015
- Bibcode:
- 2015AAS...22534916L