Evidence for the Disruption of a Planetary System During the Formation of the Helix Nebulaa
Article
Marshall, Jonathan P., Ertel, Steve, Birtcil, Eric, Villaver, Eva, Kemper, Francisca, Boffin, Henri, Scicluna, Peter and Kamath, Devika. 2023. "Evidence for the Disruption of a Planetary System During the Formation of the Helix Nebulaa." The Astronomical Journal. 165 (1). https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-3881/ac9d90
Article Title | Evidence for the Disruption of a Planetary System During the Formation of the Helix Nebulaa |
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ERA Journal ID | 1048 |
Article Category | Article |
Authors | Marshall, Jonathan P., Ertel, Steve, Birtcil, Eric, Villaver, Eva, Kemper, Francisca, Boffin, Henri, Scicluna, Peter and Kamath, Devika |
Journal Title | The Astronomical Journal |
Journal Citation | 165 (1) |
Article Number | 22 |
Number of Pages | 11 |
Year | 2023 |
Publisher | IOP Publishing |
Place of Publication | United States |
ISSN | 0004-6256 |
1538-3881 | |
Digital Object Identifier (DOI) | https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-3881/ac9d90 |
Web Address (URL) | https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/1538-3881/ac9d90 |
Abstract | The persistence of planetary systems after their host stars evolve into their post-main-sequence phase is poorly constrained by observations. Many young white dwarf systems exhibit infrared excess emission and/or spectral absorption lines associated with a reservoir of dust (or planetesimals) and its accretion. However, most white dwarfs are too cool to sufficiently heat any circumstellar dust to detectable levels of emission. The Helix Nebula (NGC 7293) is a young, nearby planetary nebula; observations at mid- and far-infrared wavelengths have revealed excess emission associated with its central white dwarf (WD 2226-210). The origin of this excess is ambiguous. It could be a remnant planetesimal belt, a cloud of comets, or the remnants of material shed during the post-asymptotic giant branch (post-AGB) phase. Here we combine infrared (Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy, Spitzer, Herschel) and millimeter (Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array) observations of the system to determine the origin of this excess using multiwavelength imaging and radiative transfer modeling. We find the data are incompatible with a compact remnant planetesimal belt or post-AGB disk, and conclude the dust most likely originates from deposition by a cometary cloud. The measured dust mass, and lifetime of the constituent grains, implies disruption of several thousand Hale–Bopp equivalent comets per year to fuel the observed excess emission around the Helix Nebula's white dwarf. |
Keywords | Circumstellar disks; Infrared excess; White dwarf stars |
ANZSRC Field of Research 2020 | 5101. Astronomical sciences |
Byline Affiliations | Academia Sinica Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Taiwan |
Centre for Astrophysics | |
University of Arizona, United States | |
Center for Astrobiology (CAB, CSIC-INTA), Spain | |
Institute of Space Sciences, Spain | |
Catalan Institution for Research and Advanced Studies (ICREA), Spain | |
Institute of Space Studies of Catalonia (IEEC), Spain | |
European Southern Observatory (ESO), Chile | |
Macquarie University |
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https://research.usq.edu.au/item/z2655/evidence-for-the-disruption-of-a-planetary-system-during-the-formation-of-the-helix-nebulaa
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