DIRECT IMAGING AND SPECTROSCOPY OF A YOUNG EXTRASOLAR KUIPER BELT IN THE NEAREST OB ASSOCIATION
- National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, Subaru Telescope, Hilo, HI (United States)
- Applied Physics Laboratory, The Johns Hopkins University, Laurel, MD (United States)
- NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD (United States)
- Institute for Astronomy, University of Cambridge, Cambridge (United Kingdom)
- Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Cambridge, MA (United States)
- ETH-Zurich, Zurich (Switzerland)
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, The College of Charleston, Charleston, SC (United States)
- Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, MD (United States)
We describe the discovery of a bright, young Kuiper belt–like debris disk around HD 115600, a ∼1.4–1.5 M{sub ⊙}, ∼15 Myr old member of the Sco–Cen OB Association. Our H-band coronagraphy/integral field spectroscopy from the Gemini Planet Imager shows the ring has a (luminosity-scaled) semimajor axis of (∼22 AU) ∼ 48 AU, similar to the current Kuiper belt. The disk appears to have neutral-scattering dust, is eccentric (e ∼ 0.1–0.2), and could be sculpted by analogs to the outer solar system planets. Spectroscopy of the disk ansae reveal a slightly blue to gray disk color, consistent with major Kuiper belt chemical constituents, where water ice is a very plausible dominant constituent. Besides being the first object discovered with the next generation of extreme adaptive optics systems (i.e., SCExAO, GPI, SPHERE), HD 115600's debris ring and planetary system provide a key reference point for the early evolution of the solar system, the structure, and composition of the Kuiper belt and the interaction between debris disks and planets.
- OSTI ID:
- 22518944
- Journal Information:
- Astrophysical Journal Letters, Vol. 807, Issue 1; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 2041-8205
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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