ISM Dust Grains and N-band Spectral Variability in the Spatially Resolved Subarcsecond Binary UY Aur

Details ISM Dust Grains and N-band Spectral Variability in the Spatially Resolved Subarcsecond Binary UY Aur ISM Dust Grains and N-band Spectral Variability in the Spatially Resolved Subarcsecond Binary UY Aur

2010-01-27

arxiv.org/abs/1001.5036v1

The Astrophysical Journal, Volume 711, Issue 2, pp. 1280-1290 (2010)

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astrophysics

Solar and Stellar Astrophysics

34 pages, 12 figures, accepted to ApJ

Scientific paper

10.1088/0004-637X/711/2/1280

The 10 micron silicate feature is an essential diagnostic of dust-grain growth and planet formation in young circumstellar disks. The Spitzer Space Telescope has revolutionized the study of this feature, but due to its small (85cm) aperture, it cannot spatially resolve small/medium separation binaries (<3"; <420 AU) at the distances of the nearest star-forming regions (~140 pc). Large, 6-10m ground-based telescopes with mid-infrared instruments can resolve these systems. In this paper, we spatially resolve the 0.88" binary, UY Aur, with MMTAO/BLINC-MIRAC4 mid-infrared spectroscopy. We then compare our spectra to Spitzer/IRS (unresolved) spectroscopy, and resolved images from IRTF/MIRAC2, Keck/OSCIR and Gemini/Michelle, which were taken over the past decade. We find that UY Aur A has extremely pristine, ISM-like grains and that UY Aur B has an unusually shaped silicate feature, which is probably the result of blended emission and absorption from foreground extinction in its disk. We also find evidence for variability in both UY Aur A and UY Aur B by comparing synthetic photometry from our spectra with resolved imaging from previous epochs. The photometric variability of UY Aur A could be an indication that the silicate emission itself is variable, as was recently found in EX Lupi. Otherwise, the thermal continuum is variable, and either the ISM-like dust has never evolved, or it is being replenished, perhaps by UY Aur's circumbinary disk.

Affiliated with

Also associated with

No associations

Rating

ISM Dust Grains and N-band Spectral Variability in the Spatially Resolved Subarcsecond Binary UY Aur 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 ISM Dust Grains and N-band Spectral Variability in the Spatially Resolved Subarcsecond Binary UY Aur, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and ISM Dust Grains and N-band Spectral Variability in the Spatially Resolved Subarcsecond Binary UY Aur will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

Comments { 0 }

Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-253695