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 L133

Subject Categories

Astronomy, Astrophysics and Cosmology

DOI

10.1051/0004-6361/201014626

More information

Latest update

5/20/2021