Publications of the MPIfR
Optical & Infrared
Interferometry Group
Ohnaka, K., Driebe, T., Hofmann, K.-H.,
Preibisch, T., Schertl, D., Weigelt, G.
VLTI/MIDI observation of the silicate carbon
star IRAS080023803: Dusty environment spatially resolved for the first
time
"Why Galaxies Care About AGB Stars: Their
Importance as Actors and Probes"
ASP Conference Series held from August 7-11, 2006 in Vienna, Austria
Vol. 378, pg.327-328(2007)
Abstract
We present the results of N–band high angular resolution
observations of the silicate carbon star IRAS 08002–3803 with the
MID-infrared Interferometric instrument (midi) at ESO’s Very Large
Telescope Interferometer (vlti). Our vlti/midi observations of IRAS
08002–3803 have spatially resolved the dusty environment of a silicate
carbon star for the first time. However, neither spherical shell models
nor axisymmetric disk models consisting of silicate grains alone can
simultaneously explain the observed wavelength dependence of the
visibility and the spectral energy distribution (SED). We propose that
the circumstellar environment of IRAS 08002–3803 may consist of two
grain species coexisting in the disk: silicate and a second grain
species, for which we consider amorphous carbon, large silicate grains,
and metallic iron grains. Our midi observations and radiative transfer
calculations lend support to a picture in which oxygen-rich material
around IRAS 08002–3803 is stored in an optically thick circumbinary
disk surrounding the carbon-rich primary star and its putative
low-luminosity companion..
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