DETECTION OF A MOLECULAR DISK ORBITING THE NEARBY, 'OLD', CLASSICAL T TAURI STAR MP MUSCAE
- Center for Imaging Science, Rochester Institute of Technology, 54 Lomb Memorial Drive, Rochester, NY 14623 (United States)
- Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Grenoble, Universite Joseph Fourier-CNRS, BP 53, 38041 Grenoble Cedex (France)
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California, Los Angeles 90095, CA (United States)
We have used the Atacama Pathfinder Experiment 12 m telescope to detect circumstellar CO emission from MP Muscae (MP Mus; K1 IVe), a nearby (D {approx} 100 pc), actively accreting, {approx}7 Myr old pre-main-sequence (pre-MS) star. The CO emission line profile measured for MP Mus is indicative of an orbiting disk with radius {approx}120 AU, assuming that the central star mass is 1.2 M {sub sun} and the disk inclination is i {approx} 30{sup 0}. The inferred disk molecular gas mass is {approx}3 M {sub +}. MP Mus thereby joins TW Hya and V4046 Sgr as the only late-type (low-mass), pre-MS star systems within {approx}100 pc of Earth that are known to retain orbiting, molecular disks. We also report the nondetection (with the Institut de Radio Astronomie Millimetrique 30 m telescope) of CO emission from another 10 nearby (D {approx_lt} 100 pc), dusty, young (age {approx}10-100 Myr) field stars of spectral type A-G. We discuss the implications of these results for the timescales for stellar and Jovian planet accretion from, and dissipation of, molecular disks around young stars.
- OSTI ID:
- 21452683
- Journal Information:
- Astrophysical Journal Letters, Vol. 723, Issue 2; Other Information: DOI: 10.1088/2041-8205/723/2/L248; ISSN 2041-8205
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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