The Disk and Environment of a Young Altair Analog: SAO 206462

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Date
2009-02-25
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Publisher
AIP Publishing
Abstract

Proto-planetary and transitional disks which are detected in scattered light provide a critical test of the interpretation of circumstellar disks based on the IR spectral energy distribution (SED) alone. The disk inclination to the line-of-sight, outter radius, and surface brightness (SB) maps or radial SB distributions provided by spatially resolved imaging remove most of the degeneracies inherent in fi tting IR SEDs without such observational constraints. We have imaged the disk of SAO 206462 (HD 135344B) in 1.1 and 1.6µm scattered light with HST/NICMOS and can trace the essentially face-on disk out to 1.05ˮ. The cavity detected in sub-mm observations lies entirely under the NICMOS coronagraphic spot, a result consistent with the SED fi tting if the star is at d=140pc. The SED had previously been classifi ed as a Meeus Group I SED and interpreted as arising in a fl ared disk. Neither the 1.1 nor the 1.6µm radial surface brightness profi les are consistent with a fl ared disk. A FUSE FUV spectrum demonstrates the presence of excess light in this system, confi rming the accretion rate estimated from Brꝩ. Collectively, these data strengthen the interpretation of this system as a transitional disk.

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Keywords
Protoplanetary disks, Transitional disks, Rotation, Stars individual SAO 206462, Accretion
Citation
Grady, C.A., et al. (2009): The Disk and Environment of a Young Altair Analog: SAO 206462. AIP Conference Proceedings, 1094(1). DOI: https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3099126