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Debris Disks Among the Shell Stars: Insights from SpitzerShell stars are a class of early-type stars that show narrow absorption lines in their spectra that appear to arise from circumstellar class. This observationally defined class contains a variety of objects, including evolved stars and classical Be stars. However, some of the main sequence shell stars harbor debris disks and younger protoplanetary disks, though this aspect of the class has been largely overlooked. We surveyed a set of main sequence stars for cool dust using Spitzer MIPS and found four additional systems with IR excesses at both 24 and 70 microns. This indicates that the stars have both circumstellar gas and dust, and are likely to be edge-on debris disks. Our estimate of the disk fraction among nearby main sequence shell stars is 48% +/- 14%. We discuss here the nature of the shell stars and present preliminary results from ground-based optical spectra of the survey target stars. We will also outline our planned studies aimed at further characterization of the shell star class.
Document ID
20080044023
Acquisition Source
Goddard Space Flight Center
Document Type
Abstract
Authors
Roberge, Aki
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Weinberger, Alycia
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Teske, Johanna
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Date Acquired
August 24, 2013
Publication Date
October 26, 2008
Subject Category
Astronomy
Meeting Information
Meeting: 5th Spitzer Conference
Location: Pasadena, CA
Country: United States
Start Date: October 26, 2008
End Date: October 30, 2008
Sponsors: Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Tech., California Inst. of Tech., NASA Headquarters
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Work of the US Gov. Public Use Permitted.

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