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Prospecting for planets in circumstellar dust - Sifting the evidence from Beta PictorisIRAS and near-IR coronographic data for the A5V star Beta Pic are analyzed for evidence of planetary formation. The light scattered from the central star in the system is integrated along the distance to the star to determine the disk magnitude at various distances from the star. A modified gamma distribution is applied to evaluate the scattering coefficient to test a hypothesis that the inner 30 AU of the disk has been swept out by planets. The scattering from the region around Beta Pic is compared with scattering around other A5V stars. Finally, the IR data at 0.89 micron is compared with scattering at the coronograph wavelengths. No evidence is found to support the hypothesis of clearing in the inner disk, although large particle densities can be found very close to Beta Pic. The study illustrates the effectiveness of using scattered light and IR data to discover and characterize matter distributions circumstellar disks.
Document ID
19870024355
Acquisition Source
Legacy CDMS
Document Type
Reprint (Version printed in journal)
External Source(s)
Authors
Diner, D. J.
(Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Appleby, J. F.
(California Institute of Technology Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, United States)
Date Acquired
August 13, 2013
Publication Date
July 31, 1986
Publication Information
Publication: Nature
Volume: 322
ISSN: 0028-0836
Subject Category
Astronomy
Accession Number
87A11629
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Other

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