M. Jura et al. 2007 The Astronomical Journal 133 1927 doi:10.1086/512734
M. Jura1, J. Farihi2, B. Zuckerman1 and E. E. Becklin1
Show affiliationsWe report Spitzer Space Telescope photometry between 3.6 and 24 μm and spectroscopy between 5 and 15 μm of GD 362, a white dwarf with an effective temperature near 10,000 K that displays a remarkably high concentration of metals in its photosphere and a thermal infrared excess. We approximately reproduce both the infrared continuum and the very strong 10 μm silicate emission feature with a model of an orbiting dusty disk that is flat out to 50 stellar radii and warped between 50 and 70 stellar radii. The relatively small amount of cold material implied by the weak 24 μm flux argues that the disk lies within the Roche radius of the star, and we may be witnessing a system where an asteroidal-size body has been tidally destroyed. If so, determination of the photospheric metal abundances may measure the bulk composition of an extrasolar minor planet.
circumstellar matter; minor planets, asteroids; white dwarfs
Issue 5 (2007 May)
Received 2006 October 31, accepted for publication 2007 January 14
Published 2007 March 19
M. Jura et al. 2007 The Astronomical Journal 133 1927
K. R. Mavani and P. L. Paulose 2007 EPL 78 37004
Carolyn Stephens 2007 Environ. Res. Lett. 2 045001
F. Lahuis et al 2006 ApJ 636 L145
M. A. Weber et al 2005 ApJ 635 L101
A S Kheifets, A Naja, E M Staicu Casagrande and A Lahmam-Bennani 2008 J. Phys. B: At. Mol. Opt. Phys. 41 209801
Alex M Chen et al 2006 Nanotechnology 17 5449
Christian Marois et al 2007 ApJ 654 L151
P. Montañés-Rodriguez et al. 2005 ApJ 629 1175
A. W. Shafter and K. A. Misselt 2006 ApJ 644 1104