STELLAR MEMBERSHIP AND DUSTY DEBRIS DISKS IN THE {alpha} PERSEI CLUSTER
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095 (United States)
- Center for Astrophysics and Space Sciences, University of California, San Diego, CA 92093 (United States)
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, 3801 W. Temple Ave., Pomona, CA 91768 (United States)
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602-2451 (United States)
Because of its proximity to the Galactic plane, reliable identification of members of the {alpha} Persei cluster is often problematic. Based primarily on membership evaluations contained in six published papers, we constructed a mostly complete list of high-fidelity members of spectral type G and earlier that lie within 3 arc degrees of the cluster center. {alpha} Persei was the one nearby, rich, young open cluster not surveyed with the Spitzer Space Telescope. We examined the first and final data releases of the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer and found 11, or perhaps 12, {alpha} Per cluster members that have excess mid-infrared emission above the stellar photosphere attributable to an orbiting dusty debris disk. The most unusual of these is V488 Per, a K-type star with an excess IR luminosity 16% (or more) of the stellar luminosity; this is a larger excess fraction than that of any other known dusty main-sequence star. Much of the dust that orbits V488 Per is at a temperature of {approx}800 K; if these grains radiate like blackbodies, then they lie only {approx}0.06 AU from the star. The dust is probably the aftermath of a collision of two planetary embryos or planets with small semimajor axes; such orbital radii are similar to those of many of the transiting planets discovered by the Kepler satellite.
- OSTI ID:
- 22037059
- Journal Information:
- Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 752, Issue 1; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0004-637X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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