2006/03/22 by G. C. Sloan, K. E. Kraemer, M. Matsuura +3 · 7 citations
Engineering · Physics and Astronomy · #Astronomical Observations and Instrumentation #Astronomy #Astrophysics #Astrophysics and Star Formation Studies #Carbon fibers #Carbon star #Galaxy #Infrared #Infrared spectroscopy #Infrared telescope #Large Magellanic Cloud #Materials science #Metallicity #Photometry (optics) #Physics #Small Magellanic Cloud #Spectral line #Spitzer Space Telescope #Stars #Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies #Telescope #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1086/504516
published as Astrophys.J.645:1118-1130,2006 · Accepted by ApJ 21 March, 2006, 13 pages (emulateapJ), 12 figures
arxiv created 2006/03/22 · openalex publication_date 2006/07/07 · arxiv updated 2014/10/13 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
We have observed a sample of 36 objects in the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) with the Infrared Spectrometer on the Spitzer Space Telescope . Nineteen of these sources are carbon stars. An examination of the near- and mid-infrared photometry shows that the carbon-rich and oxygen-rich dust sources follow two easily separated sequences. A comparison of the spectra of the 19 carbon stars in the SMC to spectra from the Infrared Space Observatory ( ISO ) of carbon stars in the Galaxy reveals significant differences. The absorption bands at 7.5 and 13.7 μm due to C 2 H 2 are stronger in the SMC sample, and the SiC dust emission feature at 11.3 μm is weaker. Our measurements of the MgS dust emission feature at 26-30 μm are less conclusive, but this feature appears to be weaker in the SMC sample as well. All of these results are consistent with the lower metallicity in the SMC. The lower abundance of SiC grains in the SMC may result in less efficient carbon-rich dust production, which could explain the excess C 2 H 2 gas seen in the spectra. The sources in the SMC with the strongest SiC dust emission tend to have redder infrared colors than the other sources in the sample, which implies more amorphous carbon, and they also tend to show stronger MgS dust emission. The weakest SiC emission features tend to be shifted to the blue; these spectra may arise from low-density shells with large SiC grains.