SEEING THROUGH THE RING: NEAR-INFRARED PHOTOMETRY OF V582 MON (KH 15D)
- Astronomy Department, Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT 06459 (United States)
- NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA 94035 (United States)
- Spitzer Science Center, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125 (United States)
- Department of Astronomy, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195-1580 (United States)
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, Iowa State University, Ames, IA 50011 (United States)
- Department of Physics and Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139 (United States)
- Physics and Astronomy Department, Dickinson College, Carlisle, PA 17013 (United States)
- Max Planck Institute for Astronomy, D-69117 Heidelberg (Germany)
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, Rice University, Houston, TX 77005 (United States)
- Department of Astronomy, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA 01002 (United States)
We examine the light and color evolution of the T Tauri binary KH 15D through photometry obtained at wavelengths between 0.55 and 8.0 μm. The data were collected with A Novel Dual Imaging CAMera (ANDICAM) on the 1.3 m SMARTS telescope at Cerro-Tololo Inter-American Observatory and with InfraRed Array Camera on the Spitzer Space Telescope. We show that the system’s circumbinary ring, which acts as a screen that covers and uncovers different portions of the binary orbit as the ring precesses, has reached an orientation where the brighter component (star B) fully or nearly fully emerges during each orbital cycle. The fainter component (star A) remains fully occulted by the screen at all phases. The leading and trailing edges of the screen move across the sky at the same rate of ∼15 m s{sup −1}, consistent with expectation for a ring with a radius and width of ∼4 au and a precession period of ∼6500 years. Light and color variations continue to indicate that the screen is sharp edged and opaque at VRIJH wavelengths. However, we find an increasing transparency of the ring edge at 2.2, 3.6, and 4.5 μm. Reddening seen at the beginning of the eclipse that occurred during the CSI 2264 campaign particularly suggests selective extinction by a population of large dust grains. Meanwhile, the gradual bluing observed while star B is setting is indicative of forward scattering effects at the edge of the ring. The spectral energy distribution of the system at its bright phase shows no evidence of infrared excess emission that can be attributed to radiation from the ring or other dust component out to 8 μm.
- OSTI ID:
- 22519983
- Journal Information:
- Astronomical Journal (Online), Vol. 151, Issue 4; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 1538-3881
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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