A Possible Massive Asteroid Belt Around HR 1998

Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy

Scientific paper

Rate now

  [ 0.00 ] – not rated yet Voters 0   Comments 0

Details

1

Scientific paper

We have used the Keck I telescope to image at 11.7 μ m and 17.9 μ m the dust emission around HR 1998, a main sequence A-type star at 21.5 pc from the Sun with an infrared excess detected with IRAS. Even with a 0.57" FWHM point spread function, the excess is unresolved; we find a dust distance from the star of {<=} 6.1 AU suggesting that the dust may be contained within a massive asteroid belt. We infer a color temperature of Tdust = 350 K for the grains, consistent with black bodies at 2.9 AU from the star. If the dust grains surrounding HR 1998 have a similar size distribution as the asteroid belt, the total mass of dust around this object is estimated to be 2.3*E27 g or approximately a thousand times that contained within the main asteroid belt. Since HR 1998 has an estimated age between 100-400 Myr, it seems to possess a relatively young asteroid belt.

No associations

LandOfFree

Say what you really think

Search LandOfFree.com for scientists and scientific papers. Rate them and share your experience with other people.

Rating

A Possible Massive Asteroid Belt Around HR 1998 does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.

If you have personal experience with A Possible Massive Asteroid Belt Around HR 1998, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and A Possible Massive Asteroid Belt Around HR 1998 will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

     

Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-1267968

  Search
All data on this website is collected from public sources. Our data reflects the most accurate information available at the time of publication.