Born Again Protoplanetary Disk Around Mira B
Mar, 2007
7 pages
Published in:
- Astrophys.J. 662 (2007) 651-657
e-Print:
- astro-ph/0703244 [astro-ph]
DOI:
View in:
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Abstract: (arXiv)
The Mira AB system is a nearby (~107 pc) example of a wind accreting binary star system. In this class of system, the wind from a mass-losing red giant star (Mira A) is accreted onto a companion (Mira B), as indicated by an accretion shock signature in spectra at ultraviolet and X-ray wavelengths. Using novel imaging techniques, we report the detection of emission at mid-infrared wavelengths between 9.7 and 18.3 m from the vicinity of Mira B but with a peak at a radial position about 10 AU closer to the primary Mira A. We interpret the mid-infrared emission as the edge of an optically-thick accretion disk heated by Mira A. The discovery of this new class of accretion disk fed by M-giant mass loss implies a potential population of young planetary systems in white-dwarf binaries which has been little explored, despite being relatively common in the solar neighborhood.- BINARIES SYMBIOTIC
- STARS AGB
- STARS POST-AGB
- MIRA AB
- STARS WINDS
- STARS OUTFLOWS
- TECHNIQUES INTERFEROMETRIC
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