First Look at the Fomalhaut Debris Disk with the
                    <i>Spitzer Space Telescope</i>

Stapelfeldt, K.; Holmes, Elizabeth; Chen, Christine; Rieke, G. H.; Su, K. Y. L.; Hines, Dean C.; Werner, M. W.; Beichman, Charles; Jura, M.; Padgett, D. L.; Stansberry, J.; Bendo, G. J.; Cadien, J.; Marengo, Massimo; Thompson, Tom; Velusamy, T.; Backus, C. R.; Blaylock, Myra L.; Egami, Eiichi; Engelbracht, C. W.; Frayer, David; Gordon, K. D.; Keene, J.; Latter, W. B.; Megeath, S. Thomas; Misselt, K. A.; Morrison, J.; Muzerolle, James; Noriega-Crespo, A.; Cleve, Jeffrey Van; Young, Erick T.

doi:10.1086/423135

Cited by 150 publications

(67 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…HD 141569 14 ). Particles in the Zodiacal dust cloud have a median size of ~30 µm 15 , which is consistent with the ~100 µm grain sizes inferred for Fomalhaut based on model fits to thermal infrared data 11,16 . Moreover, grains smaller than ~7 µm are ejected from the Fomalhaut system by radiation pressure 17,18 .…”

supporting

confidence: 81%

A planetary system as the origin of structure in Fomalhaut's dust belt

Kalas

Graham

Clampin

2005

Nature

372

524

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The Sun and >15 percent of nearby stars are surrounded by dusty debris disks that must be collisionally replenished by asteroids and comets, as the dust would otherwise be depleted on <10 7 yr timescales (ref. 1). Theoretical studies show that disk structure can be modified by the gravitational influence of planets 2-4 , but the observational evidence is incomplete, at least in part because maps of the thermal infrared emission from disks have low linear resolution (35 AU in the best case 5 ). Optical images provide higher resolution, but the closest examples (AU Mic and Beta Pic) are edge-on 6,7 , preventing the direct measurement of azimuthal and radial disk structure that is required for fitting t h e o re t i c a l m o d e l s o f p l a n e t a r y perturbations. Here we report the detection of optical light reflected from the dust grains orbiting Fomalhaut (HD 216956). The system is inclined 24˚ away from edge-on, enabling the measurement of disk structure around its entire circumference, at a linear resolution of 0.5 AU. The dust is distributed in a belt 25 AU wide, with a very sharp inner edge at a radial distance of 133 AU, and we measure an offset of 15 AU between the belt's geometric centre and Fomalhaut. Taken together, the sharp inner edge and offset demonstrate the presence of planetmass objects orbiting Fomalhaut. The white diamond and asterisk mark the centres of the belt and star, respectively. The horizontal green line traces the belt semi-major axis, whereas the red line traces the vector between the belt and star centres. White boxes and circles mark extended objects and background stars, respectively. Fomalhaut's circumstellar dust was discovered at thermal infrared wavelengths with the Infrared Astronomical Satellite 8,9 , and maps of dust emission at sub-millimetre wavelengths with 7.5" -14" angular resolution suggested a ring of material residing between 100 and 140 AU radius 10,11 . Fomalhaut is only 7.7 parsecs (1 pc = 3.3 light years) from the Sun. Using the Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) aboard the Hubble Space Telescope (HST), we detect for the first time Fomalhaut's dust complex at optical wavelengths, with angular resolution 100 times sharper than previous sub-mm maps ( Fig. 1; Methods). Fomalhaut is surrounded by a narrow dust belt inclined to our line of sight and with significant asymmetry in its azimuthal brightness distribution. We perform a non-linear leastsquares fit to the ellipse traced by the brightest points along the belt. The semi-major and semi-minor axes are 140.7 ± 1.8 AU and 57.5 ± 0.7 AU, respectively. The position angle of the ellipse is PA = 156.0˚ ± 0.3˚, with inclination to the line of sight i = 65.9˚ ± 0.4˚ (assuming the structure is intrinsically circular). These values are consistent with the belt properties previously inferred via modeling of sub-mm data 11 .The elliptical fit to Fomalhaut's belt has a projected offset from the star 13.4 ± 1.0 AU at PA = 350.4˚. Assuming that the star and belt are coplanar, the projected offset translates to 15.3 AU in t...

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supporting

confidence: 81%

A planetary system as the origin of structure in Fomalhaut's dust belt

Kalas

Graham

Clampin

2005

Nature

372

524

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…This ring lies on an eccentric orbit that would rapidly disperse in the absence of some shepherding force, presumably a massive planet. 11,12 The predicted planet has now been directly imaged, using HST (Figure 1 left panel).…”

Section: Debris Disks As Signposts Of Planetsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Coronagraphic imaging of debris disks from a high altitude balloon platform

Unwin

Traub

Bryden

et al. 2012

Space Telescopes and Instrumentation 2012: Optical, Infrared, and Millimeter Wave

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Debris disks around nearby stars are tracers of the planet formation process, and they are a key element of our understanding of the formation and evolution of extrasolar planetary systems. With multi-color images of a significant number of disks, we can probe important questions: can we learn about planetary system evolution; what materials are the disks made of; and can they reveal the presence of planets? Most disks are known to exist only through their infrared flux excesses as measured by the Spitzer Space Telescope, and through images measured by Herschel. The brightest, most extended disks have been imaged with HST, and a few, such as Fomalhaut, can be observed using ground-based telescopes. But the number of good images is still very small, and there are none of disks with densities as low as the disk associated with the asteroid belt and EdgeworthKuiper belt in our own Solar System. Direct imaging of disks is a major observational challenge, demanding high angular resolution and extremely high dynamic range close to the parent star. The ultimate experiment requires a space-based platform, but demonstrating much of the needed technology, mitigating the technical risks of a space-based coronagraph, and performing valuable measurements of circumstellar debris disks, can be done from a high-altitude balloon platform. In this paper we present a balloon-borne telescope concept based on the Zodiac II design that could undertake compelling studies of a sample of debris disks.

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“…Orbital resonances produce dust concentrations, 11,12 which have been observed at visible 13 and infrared 14 wavelengths. The locations, masses and orbits of unseen planets can be deduced from the shapes and temporal variations in the dust debris disks, 11 just as new Saturnian moons have been found after ring gaps and features divulged their hiding places.…”

Section: Goal 2: Observe Debris Disks To Characterize Extrasolar Planmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Space Infrared Interferometric Telescope (SPIRIT): mission study results

Leisawitz

Baker

Barger

et al. 2006

Space Telescopes and Instrumentation I: Optical, Infrared, and Millimeter

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We report results of a recently-completed pre-Formulation Phase study of SPIRIT, a candidate NASA Origins Probe mission. SPIRIT is a spatial and spectral interferometer with an operating wavelength range 25 -400 µm. SPIRIT will provide sub-arcsecond resolution images and spectra with resolution R = 3000 in a 1 arcmin field of view to accomplish three primary scientific objectives: (1) Learn how planetary systems form from protostellar disks, and how they acquire their chemical organization; (2) Characterize the family of extrasolar planetary systems by imaging the structure in debris disks to understand how and where planets form, and why some planets are ice giants and others are rocky; and (3) Learn how high-redshift galaxies formed and merged to form the present-day population of galaxies. Observations with SPIRIT will be complementary to those of the James Webb Space Telescope and the ground-based Atacama Large Millimeter Array. All three observatories could be operational contemporaneously.

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First Look at the Fomalhaut Debris Disk with the Spitzer Space Telescope

Cited by 150 publications

References 21 publications

A planetary system as the origin of structure in Fomalhaut's dust belt

A planetary system as the origin of structure in Fomalhaut's dust belt

Coronagraphic imaging of debris disks from a high altitude balloon platform

The Space Infrared Interferometric Telescope (SPIRIT): mission study results

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