Glenn Schneider

NICMOS imaging of the HR 4796A circumstellar disk

We report the first near-infrared (NIR) imaging of a circumstellar annular disk around the young (~8 Myr), Vega-like star HR 4796A. NICMOS coronagraph observations at 1.1 and 1.6 μm reveal a ringlike symmetrical structure that peaks in reflected intensity 105±002 (~70 AU) from the central A0 V star. The ring geometry, with an inclination of 731±12 and a major axis position angle of 268±06, is in good agreement with recent 12.5 and 20.8 μm observations of a truncated disk. The ring is resolved with a characteristic width of less than 026 (17 AU) and appears abruptly truncated at both the inner and outer edges. The region of the disk-plane inward of ~60 AU appears to be relatively free of scattering material. The integrated flux density of the part of the disk that is visible (greater than 065 from the star) is found to be 7.6±0.5 and 7.4±1.2 mJy at 1.1 and 1.6 μm, respectively. Correcting for the unseen area of the ring yields total flux densities of 12.8±1.0 and 12.5±2.0 mJy, respectively (Vega magnitudes equal to 12.92±0.08 and 12.35±0.18). The NIR luminosity ratio is evaluated from these results and ground-based photometry of the star. At these wavelengths, L(λ)/L(λ) is equal to 1.4±0.2×10 and 2.4±0.5×10, giving reasonable agreement between the stellar flux scattered in the NIR and that which is absorbed in the visible and reradiated in the thermal infrared. The somewhat red reflectance of the disk at these wavelengths implies a mean particle size in excess of several microns, which is larger than typical interstellar grains. The confinement of material to a relatively narrow annular zone implies dynamical constraints on the disk particles by one or more as yet unseen bodies.

The Circumstellar Disk of HD 141569 Imaged with NICMOS.

Coronagraphic imaging with the Near-Infrared Camera and Multiobject Spectrometer on the Hubble Space Telescope reveals a large, approximately 400 AU (4&arcsec;) radius, circumstellar disk around the Herbig Ae/Be star HD 141569. A reflected light image at 1.1 µm shows the disk oriented at a position angle of 356&j0;+/-5&j0; and inclined to our line of sight by 51&j0;+/-3&j0;; the intrinsic scattering function of the dust in the disk makes the side inclined toward us, the eastern side, brighter. The disk flux density peaks 185 AU (1&farcs;85) from the star and falls off to both larger and smaller radii. A region of depleted material, or a gap, in the disk is centered 250 AU from the star. The dynamical effect of one or more planets may be necessary to explain this morphology.

Probing dust grain evolution in IM Lupi's circumstellar disc Multi-wavelength observations and modelling of the dust disc

Aims. We present a panchromatic study, involving a multiple technique approach, of the circumstellar disc surrounding the T Tauri star IM Lupi (Sz 82). Methods. We have undertaken a comprehensive observational study of IM Lupi using photometry, spectroscopy, millimetre interferometry and multi-wavelength imaging. For the first time, the disc is resolved from optical and near-infrared wavelengths in scattered light, to the millimetre regime in thermal emission. Our data-set, in conjunction with existing photometric data, provides an extensive coverage of the spectral energy distribution, including a detailed spectrum of the silicate emission bands. We have performed a simultaneous modelling of the various observations, using the radiative transfer code MCFOST, and analysed a grid of models over a large fraction of the parameter space via Bayesian inference. Results. We have constructed a model that can reproduce all of the observations of the disc. Our analysis illustrates the importance of combining a wide range of observations in order to fully constrain the disc model, with each observation providing a strong constraint only on some aspects of the disc structure and dust content. Quantitative evidence of dust evolution in the disc is obtained: grain growth up to millimetre-sized particles, vertical stratification of dust grains with micrometric grains close to the disc surface and larger grains which have settled towards the disc midplane, and possibly the formation of fluffy aggregates and/or ice mantles around grains.

Infrared Views of the TW Hydra Disk

The face-on disk around TW Hya is imaged in scattered light at 1.1 and 1.6 km using the coronagraph in the Near Infrared Camera and Multi Object Spectrometer aboard the Hubble Space Telescope. Stellar light scattered from the optically thick dust disk is seen from 20 to 230 AU. The surface brightness declines as a power law of r~2.6B0.1 between 45 and 150 AU. The scattering pro—le indicates that the disk is —ared, not geometrically —at. The disk, while spatially unresolved in thermal radiation at 12 and 18 km in observations from the W. M. Keck Observatory, shows amorphous and crystalline silicate emission in its spectrum. A disk with silicate grains of a radius D1 km in size in its surface layers can explain the color of the scattered light and the shape of the mid-infrared spectrum. Much larger grains in the disk interior are necessary to —t the millimeter-wave spectral energy distribution, and hence grain growth from an original interstellar size population may have occurred.

Discovery of an 86 AU Radius Debris Ring around HD 181327

HST NICMOS PSF-subtractedcoronagraphicobservationsof HD181327haverevealedthepresenceofaringlike disk of circumstellar debris seen in 1.1 � m light scattered by the disk grains, surrounded by a diffuse outer region of lower surface brightness. The annular disk appears to be inclined by 31N7 � 1N6 from face-on, with the disk major-axis P.A. at 107 � � 2 � . The total 1.1 � m flux density of the light scattered by the disk (at 1B2 < r < 5B0) of 9:6 � 0:8 mJy is 0:17% � 0:015% of the starlight. Seventy percent of the light from the scattering grains appears to be confined in a 36AUwideannuluscenteredonthepeakoftheradialsurfacebrightness(SB)profile86:3 � 3:9AUfromthestar,well beyond the characteristic radius of thermal emission estimated from IRAS and Spitzer flux densities, assuming blackbody grains (� 22 AU). The 1.1 � m light scattered by the ring (1) appears bilaterally symmetric, (2) exhibits directionallypreferentialscatteringwellrepresentedbyaHenyey-Greensteinscatteringphasefunctionwith g HG ¼ 0:30 � 0:03, and (3) has a median SB (over all azimuth angles) at the 86.3 AU radius of peak SB of 1:00 � 0:07 mJy arcsec � 2 .N o photocentric offset is seen in the ring relative to the position of the central star. A low SB diffuse halo is seen in the NICMOS image to a distance of � 4 00 . Deeper 0.6 � m Hubble Space Telescope (HST) ACS PSF-subtracted coronagraphic observationsreveala faint (V � 21:5 mag arcsec � 2 ) outer nebulosityat4 00 < r < 9 00 , asymmetrically brighter to the north of the star. We discuss models of the disk and properties of its grains, from which we infer a maximum vertical scale height of 4Y8 AU at the 87.6 AU radius of maximum surface density, and a total maximum dust mass of collisionally replenished grains with minimum grain sizes of � 1 � mo f� 4MMoon. Subject headingg circumstellar matter — infrared: stars — planetary systems: protoplanetary disks — stars: individual (HD 181327)

INITIAL ON-ORBIT PERFORMANCE OF NICMOS

On 1997 February 13, Space Shuttle astronauts placed the Near-Infrared Camera and Multiobject Spectrometer (NICMOS) into the Hubble Space Telescope. Following installation, the servicing mission orbital verification program (SMOV) performed extensive testing of the instrument to verify that it can be operated and calibrated effectively. This program is essentially completed, and routine science observations have begun in most of the NICMOS modes of operation. This Letter describes the performance levels of NICMOS at this time.

Near-Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrometer Observations of the Hubble Deep Field: Observations, Data Reduction, and Galaxy Photometry

This paper presents data obtained during the NICMOS Guaranteed Time Observations of a portion of the Hubble Deep Field. The data are in a catalog format similar to the publication of the original WFPC2 Hubble Deep Field program (Williams et al.). The catalog contains 342 objects in a 49farcs1 × 48farcs4 subfield of the total observed field, 235 of which are considered coincident with objects in the WFPC2 catalog. The 3 σ signal-to-noise ratio level is at an aperture AB magnitude of approximately 28.8 at 1.6 μm. The catalog sources, listed in order of right ascension, are selected to satisfy a limiting signal-to-noise ratio criterion of greater than or equal to 2.5. This introduces a few false detections into the catalog, and users should take careful note of the completeness and reliability levels for the catalog discussed in §§ 9 and 10. The catalog also contains a test parameter indicating the results of half-catalog tests and the degree of coincidence with the original WFPC2 catalog.

High-resolution near-infrared images and models of the circumstellar disk in hh 30

We present Hubble Space Telescope near-infrared camera and multiobject spectrometer observations of the reflection nebulosity associated with the T Tauri star HH 30. The images show the scattered-light pattern characteristic of a highly inclined, optically thick disk with a prominent dust lane whose width decreases with increasing wavelength. The reflected nebulosity exhibits a lateral asymmetry in the upper lobe on the opposite side to that reported in previously published Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 images. The radiation transfer model that most closely reproduces the data has a flared accretion disk with dust grains larger than standard interstellar medium grains by a factor of approximately 2.1. A single hot spot on the stellar surface provides the necessary asymmetry to fit the images and is consistent with previous modeling of the light curve and images. Photometric analysis results in an estimated extinction of AV 80; however, since the photometry measures only scattered light rather than direct stellar flux, this a lower limit. The radiative transfer models require an extinction of AV = 7900.

An icy Kuiper belt around the young solar-type star HD 181327

Context. HD 181327 is a young main sequence F5/F6 V star belonging to the beta Pictoris moving group (age similar to 12 Myr). It harbors an optically thin belt of circumstellar material at radius similar to 90 AU, presumed to result from collisions in a population of unseen planetesimals. Aims. We aim to study the dust properties in the belt in details, and to constrain the gas-to-dust ratio. Methods. We obtained far-infrared photometric observations of HD 181327 with the PACS instrument onboard the Herschel Space Observatory(star), complemented by new 3.2 mm observations carried with the ATCA(star star) array. The geometry of the belt is constrained with newly reduced HST/NICMOS scattered light images that allow the degeneracy between the disk geometry and the dust properties to be broken. We then use the radiative transfer code GRATER to compute a large grid of models, and we identify the grain models that best reproduce the spectral energy distribution (SED) through a Bayesian analysis. We attempt to detect the oxygen and ionized carbon fine-structure lines with Herschel/PACS spectroscopy, providing observables to our photochemical code ProDiMo. Results. The HST observations confirm that the dust is confined in a narrow belt. The continuum is detected with Herschel/PACS completing nicely the SED in the far-infrared. The disk is marginally resolved with both PACS and ATCA. A medium integration of the gas spectral lines only provides upper limits on the [OI] and [CII] line fluxes. We show that the HD 181327 dust disk consists of micron-sized grains of porous amorphous silicates and carbonaceous material surrounded by an important layer of ice, for a total dust mass of similar to 0.05 M-circle plus. (in grains up to 1 mm). We discuss evidences that the grains consists of fluffy aggregates. The upper limits on the gas atomic lines do not provide unambiguous constraints: only if the PAH abundance is high, the gas mass must be lower than similar to 17 M-circle plus. Conclusions. Despite the weak constraints on the gas disk, the age of HD 181327 and the properties of the dust disk suggest that it has passed the stage of gaseous planets formation. The dust reveals a population of icy planetesimals, similar to the primitive Edgeworth-Kuiper belt, that may be a source for the future delivery of water and volatiles onto forming terrestrial planets.

An Infrared coronagraphic survey for substellar companions

We have used the F160W filter (1.4–1.8 μm) and the coronagraph on the Near-Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrometer (NICMOS) on the Hubble Space Telescope to survey 45 single stars with a median age of 0.15 Gyr, an average distance of 30 pc, and an average H magnitude of 7 mag. For the median age we were capable of detecting a 30MJ companion at separations between 15 and 200 AU. A 5MJ object could have been detected at 30 AU around 36% of our primaries. For several of our targets that were less than 30 Myr old, the lower mass limit was as low as 1MJ, well into the high mass planet region. Results of the entire survey include the proper-motion verification of five low-mass stellar companions, two brown dwarfs (HR7329B and TWA5B), and one possible brown dwarf binary (Gl 577B/C).