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Submillimeter Observations of an Asymmetric Dust Disk around Fomalhaut

  • WS Holland
  • , Jane Sophia Greaves
  • , WRF Dent
  • , MC Wyatt
  • , B Zuckerman
  • , RA Webb
  • , C McCarthy
  • , IM Coulson
  • , EI Robson
  • , WK Gear

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

New submillimeter images of the cold dust emission around the nearby main-sequence star Fomalhaut are presented. Observations at a wavelength of 450 mum, where the telescope beam size is equivalent to a resolution of 50 AU, reveal that Fomalhaut is encircled by a significantly nonaxisymmetric inclined ring. Smooth axisymmetric models of the ring images suggest the existence of a least one "clump" with an estimated flux of about 5% of the total from the disk, thus implying a clump mass of 0.075 lunar masses. At the resolution of the data, this clump could instead be a ring arc. The most plausible explanation is that this feature is produced by dust trapped in a resonance with a large planet. The observed structures around Fomalhaut and other Vega-excess stars qualitatively resemble features seen in numerical simulations with a gas giant perturber.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1141-1146
Number of pages6
JournalAstrophysical Journal
Volume582
Issue number1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 10 Jan 2003

Keywords

  • circumstellar matter
  • planetary systems
  • stars : individual (Fomalhaut)
  • CLERK-MAXWELL-TELESCOPE
  • CIRCUMSTELLAR DISK
  • PLANETS
  • STARS
  • VEGA
  • SIGNATURES
  • DEBRIS
  • SCUBA
  • RING

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