Decin, L;
Royer, P;
Cox, NLJ;
Vandenbussche, B;
Ottensamer, R;
Blommaert, JADL;
Groenewegen, MAT;
... Waelkens, C; + view all
(2011)
Discovery of multiple dust shells beyond 1 arcmin in the circumstellar envelope of IRC +10216 using Herschel/PACS.
Astronomy & Astrophysics
, 534
, Article A1. 10.1051/0004-6361/201117360.
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Abstract
We present new Herschel/PACS images at 70, 100, and 160 μm of the well-known, nearby, carbon-rich asymptotic giant branch star IRC+10216 revealing multiple dust shells in its circumstellar envelope. For the first time, dust shells (or arcs) are detected until 320′′. The almost spherical shells are non-concentric and have an angular extent between ~40° and ~200°. The shells have a typical width of 5′′–8′′, and the shell separation varies in the range of ~10′′–35′′, corresponding to ~500 –1 700 yr. Local density variations within one arc are visible. The shell/intershell density contrast is typically ~4, and the arcs contain some 50% more dust mass than the smooth envelope. The observed (nested) arcs record the mass-loss history over the past 16 000 yr, but Rayleigh-Taylor and Kelvin-Helmholtz instabilities in the turbulent astropause and astrosheath will erase any signature of the mass-loss history for at least the first 200 000 yr of mass loss. Accounting for the bowshock structure, the envelope mass around IRC+10216 contains >2 M⊙ of gas and dust mass. It is argued that the origin of the shells is related to non-isotropic mass-loss events and clumpy dust formation.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Discovery of multiple dust shells beyond 1 arcmin in the circumstellar envelope of IRC +10216 using Herschel/PACS |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1051/0004-6361/201117360 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/201117360 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | This version is the version of record. For information on re-use, please refer to the publisher’s terms and conditions. |
| Keywords: | stars: AGB and post-AGB / circumstellar matter / stars: carbon / stars: individual: IRC +10216 |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Maths and Physical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Maths and Physical Sciences > Dept of Physics and Astronomy |
| URI: | https://discovery-pp.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10095275 |
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