Simultaneous infrared and optical observations of the transiting debris cloud around WD 1145+017

Abstract

We present multi-wavelength photometric monitoring of WD 1145+017, a white dwarf exhibiting periodic dimming events interpreted to be the transits of orbiting, disintegrating planetesimals. Our observations include the first set of near-infrared light curves for the object, obtained on multiple nights over the span of one month, and recorded multiple transit events with depths varying between ~20 to 50 per cent. Simultaneous near-infrared and optical observations of the deepest and longest duration transit event were obtained on two epochs with the Anglo-Australian Telescope and three optical facilities, over the wavelength range of 0.5 to 1.2 microns. These observations revealed no measurable difference in transit depths for multiple photometric pass bands, allowing us to place a 2 sigma lower limit of 0.8 microns on the grain size in the putative transiting debris cloud. This conclusion is consistent with the spectral energy distribution of the system, which can be fit with an optically thin debris disc with minimum particle sizes of 10 +5/-3 microns.

12 pages, 8 figures, accepted for publication in MNRAS

References in corpus (13)

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Cited by in corpus (28)

• Numerical Simulations of Collisional Cascades at the Roche Limits of White Dwarf Stars
• Explaining the variability of WD 1145+017 with simulations of asteroid tidal disruption
• Does a Differentiated, Carbonate-Rich, Rocky Object Pollute the White Dwarf SDSSJ104341.53+085558.2?
• WD 1145+017 Photometric Observations During 8 Months of High Activity
• Deposition of steeply infalling debris around white dwarf stars
• Exoplanet recycling in massive white-dwarf debris discs
• Circularization of tidal debris around white dwarfs: implications for gas production and dust variability
• A dearth of small particles in the transiting material around the white dwarf WD 1145+017
• The fates of Solar system analogues with one additional distant planet
• Mass and eccentricity constraints on the planetary debris orbiting the white dwarf WD 1145+017
• Linking long-term planetary $N$-body simulations with periodic orbits: application to white dwarf pollution
• Fast spectrophotometry of WD 1145+017
• Binary star influence on post-main-sequence multi-planet stability
• Mysterious eclipses in the light-curve of KIC8462852: a possible explanation
• Orbital relaxation and excitation of planets tidally interacting with white dwarfs
• Once in a blue moon: detection of 'bluing' during debris transits in the white dwarf WD1145+017
• Shallow Ultraviolet Transits of WD 1145+017
• Dynamical mass and multiplicity constraints on co-orbital bodies around stars
• Necroplanetology: Simulating the Tidal Disruption of Differentiated Planetary Material Orbiting WD 1145+017
• The critical binary star separation for a planetary system origin of white dwarf pollution
• White dwarf planetary debris dependence on physical structure distributions within asteroid belts
• Transiting Disintegrating Planetary Debris around WD 1145+017
• A Large Ground-Based Observing Campaign of the Disintegrating Planet K2-22b
• WD 1145+017: Alternative models of the atmosphere, dust clouds, and gas rings
• Polarization measurements of the polluted white dwarf G29-38
• Time resolved spectroscopy of dust and gas from extrasolar planetesimals orbiting WD 1145+017
• Extrasolar enigmas: from disintegrating exoplanets to exoasteroids
• Special cases : moons, rings, comets, trojans