The Dust Cloud around the White Dwarf G29-38

2005/11/30 by W. T. Reach, William T. Reach, Marc J. Kuchner +5 · 12 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Astro and Planetary Science #Astronomy #Astrophysics and Star Formation Studies #Environmental science #Physics #Stars #Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies #White dwarf #astro-ph

paper · pdf · doi:10.1086/499561

published as Astrophys.J. 635 (2005) L161-L165 · accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal Letters

openalex publication_date 2005/12/07 · arxiv created 2006/01/13 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05

Abstract

We present new observations of the white dwarf G 29-38 with the camera (4.5 and 8 microns), photometer (24 microns), and spectrograph (5.5-14 microns) of the Spitzer Space Telescope. This star has an exceptionally large infrared excess amounting to 3% of the bolometric luminosity. The spectral energy distribution has a continuum peak around 4.5 micros and a 9-11 micron emission feature 1.25 times brighter than the continuum. A mixture of amorphous olivine and a small amount of forsterite in an emitting region 1-5 Rsun from the star can reproduce the shape of the 9-11 micron feature. The spectral energy distribution also appears to require amorphous carbon to explain the hot continuum. Our new measurements support the idea that a relatively recent disruption of a comet or asteroid created the cloud.

Citations

• The Spitzer Space Telescope Mission
• Keck Speckle Imaging of the White Dwarf G29-38: No Brown Dwarf Companion Detected

Cited by

• SpitzerIRAC Observations of White Dwarfs. II. Massive Planetary and Cold Brown Dwarf Companions to Young and Old Degenerates
• GROUND-BASED OPTICAL ANDSPITZERINFRARED IMAGING OBSERVATIONS OF COMET 21P/GIACOBINI-ZINNER
• Post-main-sequence Evolution of Icy Minor Planets. III. Water Retention in Dwarf Planets and Exomoons and Implications for White Dwarf Pollution
• Debris Disks around White Dwarfs: The DAZ Connection
• THE WIRED SURVEY. I. A BRIGHT IR EXCESS DUE TO DUST AROUND THE HEAVILY POLLUTED WHITE DWARF GALEX J193156.8+011745
• Constraining the Surface Inhomogeneity and Settling Times of Metals on Accreting White Dwarfs
• A Second Look at the Metal Line Variability of G29-38
• The critical binary star separation for a planetary system origin of white dwarf pollution
• Numerical Simulations of Gaseous Disks Generated from Collisional Cascades at the Roche Limits of White Dwarf Stars
• The magnetic and metallic degenerate G77-50
• Five New Post-main-sequence Debris Disks with Gaseous Emission
• CHEMICAL ABUNDANCES IN THE EXTERNALLY POLLUTED WHITE DWARF GD 40: EVIDENCE OF A ROCKY EXTRASOLAR MINOR PLANET