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The HD 163296 Circumstellar Disk in Scattered Light: Evidence of Time-Variable Self-Shadowing

Wisniewski, John P. and Clampin, Mark and Grady, Carol A. and Ardila, David R. and Ford, Holland C. and Golimowski, David A. and Illingworth, Garth D. and Krist, John E. (2008) The HD 163296 Circumstellar Disk in Scattered Light: Evidence of Time-Variable Self-Shadowing. Astrophysical Journal, 682 (1). pp. 548-558. ISSN 0004-637X. doi:10.1086/589629. https://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechAUTHORS:20090713-152441162

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Abstract

We present the first multicolor view of the scattered light disk of the Herbig Ae star HD 163296, based on coronagraphic observations from the Hubble Space Telescope Advanced Camera for Surveys (HST ACS). Radial profile fits of the surface brightness along the disk's semimajor axis indicate that the disk is not continuously flared, and extends to ~540 AU. The disk's color (V − I) = 1.1 at a radial distance of 3.5'' is redder than the observed stellar color (V − I) = 0.15. This red disk color might be indicative of either an evolution in the grain size distribution (i.e., grain growth) and/or composition, both of which would be consistent with the observed nonflared geometry of the outer disk. We also identify a single ansa morphological structure in our F435W ACS data, which is absent from earlier epoch F606W and F814W ACS data, but corresponds to one of the two ansae observed in archival HST Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS) coronagraphic data. Following transformation to similar bandpasses, we find that the scattered light disk of HD 163296 is 1 mag arcsec^(−2) fainter at 3.5'' in the STIS data than in the ACS data. Moreover, variations are seen in (1) the visibility of the ansa(e) structures, (2) the relative surface brightness of the ansa(e) structures, and (3) the (known) intrinsic polarization of the system. These results indicate that the scattered light from the HD 163296 disk is variable. We speculate that the inner disk wall, which Sitko et al. suggests has a variable scale height as diagnosed by near-IR SED variability, induces variable self-shadowing of the outer disk. We further speculate that the observed surface brightness variability of the ansa(e) structures may indicate that the inner disk wall is azimuthally asymmetric.


Item Type:Article
Related URLs:
URLURL TypeDescription
http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/589629DOIArticle
http://www.iop.org/EJ/abstract/0004-637X/682/1/548/PublisherArticle
ORCID:
AuthorORCID
Wisniewski, John P.0000-0001-9209-1808
Illingworth, Garth D.0000-0002-6668-2011
Additional Information:© 2008 The American Astronomical Society. Received 2007 October 1; accepted 2008 April 23. We thank Mike Sitko, Aki Roberge, Nick Collins, and Karen Bjorkman for helpful discussions regarding this paper. We also thank our referee for providing helpful suggestions which improved the quality of this paper. Support for this project was provided by NASA NPP fellowship NNH06CC03B (J. P. W.). We acknowledge use of the SIMBAD database operated at CDS, Strasbourg, France, and the NASA ADS system.
Funders:
Funding AgencyGrant Number
NASA Postdoctoral ProgramNNH06CC03B
Subject Keywords:circumstellar matter; planetary systems : formation; planetary systems : protoplanetary disks; stars : individual (HD 163296)
Issue or Number:1
DOI:10.1086/589629
Record Number:CaltechAUTHORS:20090713-152441162
Persistent URL:https://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechAUTHORS:20090713-152441162
Official Citation:The HD 163296 Circumstellar Disk in Scattered Light: Evidence of Time-Variable Self-Shadowing John P. Wisniewski, Mark Clampin, Carol A. Grady, David R. Ardila, Holland C. Ford, David A. Golimowski, Garth D. Illingworth, and John E. Krist 2008 ApJ 682 548-558 doi: 10.1086/589629
Usage Policy:No commercial reproduction, distribution, display or performance rights in this work are provided.
ID Code:14576
Collection:CaltechAUTHORS
Deposited By: Tony Diaz
Deposited On:01 Sep 2009 18:24
Last Modified:08 Nov 2021 23:12

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