Other
Scientific paper
Jul 2004
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2004hst..prop10100s&link_type=abstract
HST Proposal ID #10100
Other
Hst Proposal Id #10100 Cold Stars
Scientific paper
The carbon star V Hydrae is experiencing heavy mass loss as it undergoes the transition from AGB star to pre-planetary nebula. This is possibly the earliest object known in this brief phase. Molecular observations reveal that a bipolar nebula has been established even at this early stage. Using STIS on the HST, we have discovered a high-velocity {> 200 km/s} jet or blob of gas which was ejected only 2 years ago from near the star. A second STIS observation 11 months later clearly showed both its proper motion and the fact that it is being strongly decelerated. We propose STIS monitoring of this remarkable event for an additional 3 years, in order to: 1} obtain a precise dynamical and cooling history of this blob, and 2} determine whether the ejection of such blobs is associated with, or perhaps phased with, the 530-day stellar period. This ejection event is likely to hold the key to understanding why initially spherical mass outflows adopt a bipolar geometry during the post-AGB phase of stellar evolution. We not only have the opportunity to look on as the circumstellar envelope is sculpted by this and perhaps other collimated mass ejections, but we also have an unprecedented chance to constrain the mechanism for mass ejection, and thereby help solve a long-standing puzzle. Finally, molecular line observations and our previous STIS Hα observations show that the V Hya system contains a prominent, central disk. We propose a follow-up study in Hα in order to better define the disk properties, and thereby to determine whether the disk plays a role in the collimation of the emerging blob. We will use the data to constrain hydrodynamical models of collimated jet interactions with the ambient circumstellar medium in V Hydrae, in order to set quantitative constraints on the physical properties of the blobby outflow.
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