Discovery of a shell around Alpha Lyrae

Abstract

view Abstract Citations (687) References (23) Co-Reads Similar Papers Volume Content Graphics Metrics Export Citation NASA/ADS Discovery of a shell around alpha Lyrae. Aumann, H. H. ; Gillett, F. C. ; Beichman, C. A. ; de Jong, T. ; Houck, J. R. ; Low, F. J. ; Neugebauer, G. ; Walker, R. G. ; Wesselius, P. R. Abstract IRAS observations of Alpha Lyrae reveal a large infrared excess beyond 12 microns. The excess over an extrapolation of a 10,000 K blackbody is a factor of 1.3 at 25 microns, 7 at 60 microns, and 16 at 100 microns. The source of 60 microns emission has a diameter of about 20 arcsec. This is the first detection of a large infrared excess from a main-sequence star without significant mass loss. The most likely origin of the excess is thermal radiation from solid particles more than a millimeter in radius, located approximately 85 AU from Alpha Lyr and heated by the star to an equilibrium temperature of 85 K. These results provide the first direct evidence outside of the solar system for the growth of large particles from the residual of the prenatal cloud of gas and dust. Publication: The Astrophysical Journal Pub Date: March 1984 DOI: 10.1086/184214 Bibcode: 1984ApJ...278L..23A Keywords: A Stars; Infrared Astronomy; Reference Stars; Stellar Envelopes; Emission Spectra; Infrared Astronomy Satellite; Particle Production; Spaceborne Astronomy; Thermal Radiation; Astrophysics full text sources ADS | data products SIMBAD (7)

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