Complex Organic Materials in the Circumstellar Disk of HR 4796A

Abstract

We combine HST/NICMOS imaging photometry of the HR 4796A disk at previously unobserved wavelengths between 1.71-2.22\micron with reprocessed archival observations to produce a measure of the dust's scattering efficiency as a function of wavelength. The spectrum of the dust, synthesized from the seven photometric measures, is characterized by a steep red slope increasing from 0.5 \micron to 1.6 \micron followed by a flattening of the spectrum at wavelengths $>$ 1.6 \micron. We fit the spectrum with a model population of dust grains made of tholins, materials comprised of complex organic materials seen throughout the outer parts of our Solar System. The presence of organic material around a star that may be in the later stages of giant planet formation implies that the basic building blocks for life may be common in planetary systems.

5 pages, emulateapj, Accepted to ApJL

References in corpus (2)

• Discovery of an 86 AU Radius Debris Ring Around HD 181327
• Survival of icy grains in debris discs. The role of photosputtering

Cited by in corpus (5)

• STIS Imaging of the HR 4796A Circumstellar Debris Ring
• Speckle Suppression Through Dual Imaging Polarimetry, and a Ground-Based Image of the HR 4796A Circumstellar Disk
• Color Gradients Detected in the HD 15115 Circumstellar Disk
• Complex Organic Materials in the HR 4796A Disk?
• Organic Matter in Space - an Overview