Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph Coronagraphic Observations of β Pictoris

Details Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph Coronagraphic Observations of β Pictoris Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph Coronagraphic Observations of β Pictoris

Aug 2000

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2000apj...539..435h&link_type=abstract

The Astrophysical Journal, Volume 539, Issue 1, pp. 435-444.

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astronomy

107

Accretion, Accretion Disks, Stars: Circumstellar Matter, Stars: Planetary Systems, Stars: Imaging, Stars: Individual (Β Pictoris)

Scientific paper

We present new coronagraphic images of β Pictoris obtained with the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS) in 1997 September. The high-resolution images (0.1") clearly detect the circumstellar disk as close to the star as 0.75", corresponding to a projected radius of 15 AU. The images define the warp in the disk with greater precision and at closer radii to β Pic than do previous observations. They show that the warp can be modeled by the projection of two components: the main disk and a fainter component, which is inclined to the main component by 4°-5° and extends only as far as ~4" from the star. We interpret the main component as arising primarily in the outer disk and the tilted component as defining the inner region of the disk. The observed properties of the warped inner disk are inconsistent with a driving force from stellar radiation. However, warping induced by the gravitational potential of one or more planets is consistent with the data. Using models of planet-warped disks constructed by Larwood & Papaloizou, we derive possible masses of the perturbing object. Based on observations with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, obtained at the Space Telescope Science Institute, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., under NASA contract NAS5-26555.

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