Submitting Campus
Daytona Beach
Department
Physical Sciences
Document Type
Article
Publication/Presentation Date
12-20-2005
Abstract/Description
We present new observations of the white dwarf G29-38 with the camera (4.5 and 8 μm), photometer (24 μm), and spectrograph (5.5-14 μm) of the Spitzer Space Telescope. This star has an exceptionally large infrared excess, amounting to 3% of the bolometric luminosity. The spectral energy distribution (SED) has a continuum peak around 4.5 μm and a 9-11 μm emission feature 1.25 times brighter than the continuum. A mixture of amorphous olivine and a small amount of forsterite in an emitting region 1-5 R☉ from the star can reproduce the shape of the 9-11 μm feature. The SED also appears to require amorphous carbon to explain the hot continuum. Our new measurements support the idea that a relatively recent disruption of a comet or asteroid created the cloud.
Publication Title
The Astrophysical Journal
Publisher
Institute of Physics Publishing, Inc.
Scholarly Commons Citation
Reach, W. T., von Hippel, T., & al., e. (2005). The Dust Cloud Around the White Dwarf G29-38. The Astrophysical Journal, 635(2). Retrieved from https://commons.erau.edu/publication/261
Additional Information
Dr. von Hippel was not affiliated with Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University at the time this paper was published.