Circumstellar Crystalline Silicates: Evolved Stars

Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy

Scientific paper

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Scientific paper

One of the most exciting developments in astronomy in the last 15 years was the discovery of crystalline silicate stardust by the Short Wavelength Spectrometer (SWS) on board of ISO; discovery of the crystalline grains was indeed one of the biggest surprises of the ISO mission. Initially discovered around AGB stars (evolved stars in the range of 0.8 > M/M¤>8) at far-infrared (IR) wavelengths, crystalline silicates have since been seen in many astrophysical environments including young stellar objects (T Tauri and Herbig Ae/Be), comets and Ultra Luminous Infrared Galaxies. Low and intermediate mass stars (LIMS) comprise 95% of the contributors to the ISM, so study of the formation of crystalline silicates is critical to our understanding of the ISM, which is thought to be primarily amorphous (one would expect an almost exact match between the composition of AGB dust shells and the dust in the ISM). Whether the crystalline dust is merely undetectable or amorphized remains a mystery. The FORCAST instrument on SOFIA as well as the PACS instrument on Herschel will provide exciting observing opportunities for the further study of crystalline silicates.

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