1997/10/31 by M. J. McCaughrean, Mark J. McCaughrean, Hua Chen +10 · 4 citations
Chemistry · Physics and Astronomy · #Astronomy #Astrophysics #Astrophysics and Star Formation Studies #Infrared #Millimeter #Molecular Spectroscopy and Structure #Optics #Physics #Silhouette #Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies #Wavelength #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1086/311110
11 pages, 3 EPS figures, 1 EPS table, LaTeX (using AASTeX, psfig.sty). To appear in the special NICMOS/STIS ERO edition of The Astrophysical Journal (Letters), January 1998
arxiv created 1997/10/31 · openalex publication_date 1998/01/10 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/06
We present the first high-resolution near-infrared images of the edge-on silhouette circumstellar disk, Orion 114-426, made using NICMOS on the Hubble Space Telescope . Images taken against the bright nebular background of the ionized hydrogen Paα line at 1.87 μm show the major axis of the disk to be approximately 20% smaller than at 0.6 μm, from which we deduce the structure of the edge of the disk. Continuum images of diffuse polar lobes above and below the plane of the disk show a morphology and evolution with wavelength consistent with predictions for reflection nebulae in a diffuse envelope with large polar cavities, surrounding a thin, massless, Keplerian disk, centered on an otherwise hidden central star. We make use of our observations and reasonable assumptions about the underlying disk structure to show that the disk mass is at least 10 M ⊕ and plausibly ≥5 × 10 −4 M ☉ .