The beta Pictoris disk imaged by Herschel PACS and SPIRE
Journal article, 2010
We obtained Herschel PACS and SPIRE images of the thermal emission of the debris disk around the A5V star beta Pic. The disk is well resolved in the PACS filters at 70, 100, and 160 mu m. The surface brightness profiles between 70 and 160 mu m show no significant asymmetries along the disk, and are compatible with 90% of the emission between 70 and 160 mu m originating in a region closer than 200 AU to the star. Although only marginally resolving the debris disk, the maps obtained in the SPIRE 250-500 mu m filters provide full-disk photometry, completing the SED over a few octaves in wavelength that had been previously inaccessible. The small far-infrared spectral index (beta = 0.34) indicates that the grain size distribution in the inner disk (<200 AU) is inconsistent with a local collisional equilibrium. The size distribution is either modified by non-equilibrium effects, or exhibits a wavy pattern, caused by an under-abundance of impactors which have been removed by radiation pressure.
individual: beta Pic
debris discs
planet
protoplanetary disks
stars
planetary systems
collisions
distributions
midinfrared images
stars: early-type
dust disk
stars:
circumstellar matter
Author
B. Vandenbussche
KU Leuven
B. Sibthorpe
Royal Observatory
B. Acke
KU Leuven
E. Pantin
Centre national de la recherche scientifique (CNRS)
G. Olofsson
Stockholm University
C. Waelkens
KU Leuven
C. Dominik
Radboud University
Anton Pannekoek Institute for Astronomy
M. J. Barlow
University College London (UCL)
Jadl Blommaert
KU Leuven
J. Bouwman
Max Planck Society
A. Brandeker
Stockholm University
M. Cohen
University of California
W. De Meester
KU Leuven
W. R. F. Dent
Atacama Large Millimeter-submillimeter Array (ALMA)
K. M. Exter
KU Leuven
J. Di Francesco
National Research Council Canada
M. Fridlund
Research and Scientific Support Department
W. K. Gear
Cardiff University
A. M. Glauser
Royal Observatory
Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zürich (ETH)
H. L. Gomez
Cardiff University
J. S. Greaves
University of St Andrews
P. C. Hargrave
Cardiff University
P. M. Harvey
University of Colorado at Boulder
The University of Texas at Austin
T. Henning
Max Planck Society
A. Heras
Research and Scientific Support Department
M. R. Hogerheijde
Leiden University
W. S. Holland
Royal Observatory
R. Huygen
KU Leuven
R. J. Ivison
University of Edinburgh
Royal Observatory
C. Jean
KU Leuven
S. J. Leeks
STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory
T. L. Lim
STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory
René Liseau
Chalmers, Earth and Space Sciences, Radio Astronomy and Astrophysics
B. C. Matthews
National Research Council Canada
D. A. Naylor
University of Lethbridge
G.L. Pilbratt
Research and Scientific Support Department
E. T. Polehampton
University of Lethbridge
STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory
S. Regibo
KU Leuven
P. Royer
KU Leuven
A. Sicilia-Aguilar
Max Planck Society
B. M. Swinyard
STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory
H. Walker
STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory
R. Wesson
University College London (UCL)
Astronomy and Astrophysics
0004-6361 (ISSN) 1432-0746 (eISSN)
Vol. 518 Article Number: L133 L133Subject Categories
Astronomy, Astrophysics and Cosmology
DOI
10.1051/0004-6361/201014626