Other
Scientific paper
Jul 2004
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2004hst..prop10409o&link_type=abstract
HST Proposal ID #10409
Other
Hst Proposal Id #10409 Ism And Circumstellar Matter
Scientific paper
We have discovered that some nearby bright carbon stars have detached circumstellar shells, emitting in CO mm lines as well as in visual stellar light scattered by dust and atoms {the resonance lines of NaI and KI}. The optical light is up to 35% linearly polarized. The shells are remarkably spherical, but both the CO data and the optical pictures show pronounced inhomogeneities on smaller {marginally resolved} scales. The latter fact introduces considerable uncertainties in mass-loss-rate estimates. We ascribe the existence of the shells to the He-shell flashes, and the inhomogeneities to hydrodynamic instabilities. However, the different observables {CO, atoms, dust} indicate significantly different structural patterns. In order to understand the different components of the shells, their interaction and origin, it is necessary to improve the imaging of the shells. In view of their faintness, relative to the stellar light scattered in the Earth's atmosphere, this can only be accomplished by using the HST. Maps of the distribution of the dust at high spatial resolution will efficiently constrain theoretical work on the origin of the shells and their evolution, and the inhomogeneities in them. We may be able to separate the dust and atomic scattered light components. Mass loss from carbon stars and other AGB stars contribute significantly to the abundances of many chemical elements {C, N, s-elements} and is not well understood. The present study may lead to important improvements in the study of mass-loss rates and mechanisms, and thus for nucleosynthesis in general.
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