IS DUST FORMING ON THE RED GIANT BRANCH IN 47 Tuc?
Journal Article
·
· Astrophysical Journal Letters
- STScI, 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218 (United States)
- Astrophysics Group, Lennard-Jones Laboratories, Keele University, Staffordshire ST5 5BG (United Kingdom)
- Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics, Alan Turing Building, University of Manchester, M13 9PL (United Kingdom)
- Department of Astronomy, University of Wisconsin, Madison, 475 North Charter Street, Madison, WI 53706-1582 (United States)
- Steward Observatory, University of Arizona, 933 North Cherry Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85721 (United States)
- Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden Street, MS 65, Cambridge, MA 02138-1516 (United States)
- Department of Astronomy, University of Virginia, P.O. Box 3818, Charlottesville, VA 22903-0818 (United States)
- Space Science Institute, 4750 Walnut Street, Suite 205, Boulder, CO 80301 (United States)
Using Spitzer Infrared Array Camera (IRAC) observations from the SAGE-SMC Legacy program and archived Spitzer IRAC data, we investigate dust production in 47 Tuc, a nearby massive Galactic globular cluster. A previous study detected infrared excess, indicative of circumstellar dust, in a large population of stars in 47 Tuc, spanning the entire red giant branch (RGB). We show that those results suffered from effects caused by stellar blending and imaging artifacts and that it is likely that no stars below {approx}1 mag from the tip of the RGB are producing dust. The only stars that appear to harbor dust are variable stars, which are also the coolest and most luminous stars in the cluster.
- OSTI ID:
- 21305109
- Journal Information:
- Astrophysical Journal Letters, Journal Name: Astrophysical Journal Letters Journal Issue: 2 Vol. 711; ISSN 2041-8205
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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