JWST-TST High Contrast: Asymmetries, Dust Populations, and Hints of a Collision in the β Pictoris Disk with NIRCam and MIRI

Isabel Rebollido; Christopher C. Stark; Jens Kammerer; Marshall D. Perrin; Kellen Lawson; Laurent Pueyo; Christine Chen; Dean Hines; Julien H. Girard; Kadin Worthen; Carl Ingerbretsen; Sarah Betti; Mark Clampin; David Golimowski; Kielan Hoch; Nikole K. Lewis; Cicero X. Lu; Roeland P. van der Marel; Emily Rickman; Sara Seager; Rémi Soummer; Jeff A. Valenti; Kimberly Ward-Duong; C. Matt Mountain

doi:10.3847/1538-3881/ad1759

The Astronomical Journal (Jan 2024)

JWST-TST High Contrast: Asymmetries, Dust Populations, and Hints of a Collision in the β Pictoris Disk with NIRCam and MIRI

Isabel Rebollido,
Christopher C. Stark,
Jens Kammerer,
Marshall D. Perrin,
Kellen Lawson,
Laurent Pueyo,
Christine Chen,
Dean Hines,
Julien H. Girard,
Kadin Worthen,
Carl Ingerbretsen,
Sarah Betti,
Mark Clampin,
David Golimowski,
Kielan Hoch,
Nikole K. Lewis,
Cicero X. Lu,
Roeland P. van der Marel,
Emily Rickman,
Sara Seager,
Rémi Soummer,
Jeff A. Valenti,
Kimberly Ward-Duong,
C. Matt Mountain

Affiliations

Isabel Rebollido: ORCiD; Centro de Astrobiología (CAB CSIC-INTA) ESAC Campus Camino Bajo del Castillo , s/n, Villanueva de la Cañada, 28692 Madrid, Spain; Space Telescope Science Institute , 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
Christopher C. Stark: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center , Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA
Jens Kammerer: ORCiD; Space Telescope Science Institute , 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA; European Southern Observatory , Karl-Schwarzschild-Straße 2, D-85748 Garching, Germany
Marshall D. Perrin: ORCiD; Space Telescope Science Institute , 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
Kellen Lawson: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center , Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA
Laurent Pueyo: Space Telescope Science Institute , 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
Christine Chen: ORCiD; Space Telescope Science Institute , 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
Dean Hines: ORCiD; Space Telescope Science Institute , 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
Julien H. Girard: ORCiD; Space Telescope Science Institute , 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
Kadin Worthen: ORCiD; William H. Miller III Department of Physics and Astronomy, John’s Hopkins University , 3400 N. Charles Street, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
Carl Ingerbretsen: ORCiD; William H. Miller III Department of Physics and Astronomy, John’s Hopkins University , 3400 N. Charles Street, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
Sarah Betti: ORCiD; Space Telescope Science Institute , 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
Mark Clampin: ORCiD; Astrophysics Division, Science Mission Directorate, NASA Headquarters , 300 E Street SW, Washington, DC 20546, USA
David Golimowski: ORCiD; Space Telescope Science Institute , 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
Kielan Hoch: ORCiD; Space Telescope Science Institute , 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
Nikole K. Lewis: ORCiD; Department of Astronomy and Carl Sagan Institute, Cornell University , 122 Sciences Drive, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA
Cicero X. Lu: ORCiD; Gemini Observatory/NSF’s NOIRLab , 670 N. A’ohoku Place, Hilo, HI 96720, USA
Roeland P. van der Marel: ORCiD; Space Telescope Science Institute , 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
Emily Rickman: ORCiD; European Space Agency (ESA), ESA Office, Space Telescope Science Institute , 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
Sara Seager: ORCiD; Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology , Cambridge, MA 02139, USA; Department of Physics and Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology , Cambridge, MA 02139, USA; Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology , 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
Rémi Soummer: ORCiD; Space Telescope Science Institute , 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
Jeff A. Valenti: ORCiD; Space Telescope Science Institute , 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
Kimberly Ward-Duong: ORCiD; Department of Astronomy, Smith College , Northampton, MA 01063, USA
C. Matt Mountain: Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy , 1331 Pennsylvania Avenue NW Suite 1475, Washington, DC 20004, USA

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-3881/ad1759
Journal volume & issue: Vol. 167, no. 2
p. 69

Abstract

Read online

We present the first JWST Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) and Near Infrared Camera (NIRCam) observations of the prominent debris disk around β Pictoris. Coronagraphic observations in eight filters spanning from 1.8 to 23 μ m provide an unprecedentedly clear view of the disk at these wavelengths. The objectives of the observing program were to investigate the dust composition and distribution and to investigate the presence of planets in the system. In this paper, we focus on the disk components, providing surface brightness measurements for all images and a detailed investigation of the asymmetries observed. A companion paper by Kammerer et al. will focus on the planets in this system using the same data. We report for the first time the presence of an extended secondary disk in thermal emission, with a curved extension bent away from the plane of the disk. This feature, which we refer to as the “cat’s tail,” seems to be connected with the previously reported CO clump, mid-infrared asymmetry detected on the southwest side of the disk, and the warp observed in scattered light. We present a model of this secondary disk sporadically producing dust that broadly reproduces the morphology, flux, and color of the cat’s tail, as well as other features observed in the disk, and which suggests the secondary disk is composed largely of porous, organic refractory dust grains.

Published in The Astronomical Journal

ISSN: 0004-6256 (Print); 1538-3881 (Online)
Publisher: IOP Publishing
Country of publisher: United Kingdom
LCC subjects: Science: Astronomy
Website: https://iopscience.iop.org/journal/1538-3881

About the journal

Abstract

Keywords