Possible emission lines from the gaseous beta Pictoris disk
Feldman, P. D.; Lecavelier des Etangs, A.; Ferlet, R.; Vidal-Madjar, A.; Lagrange, A. -M.; Beust, H.; Hobbs, L. M.; McGrath, M.; Moos, W.
France, United States
Abstract
We present the results of exploratory HST observations to detect the emission lines of ions in the beta Pictoris disk with the spectrograph slit placed off the star. Possible emission lines from Fe II have been detected at ~10-14erg cm-2 s-1 at 0.5'' from beta Pictoris, which would suggest a total Fe II density of >~ 2* 10-2cm-3 at 10 AU. This detection needs confirmation. If real, it requires a large production rate of gas and dust equivalent to the total disruption of ten bodies 30 kilometers in radius per year.