Ultraviolet spectroscopy of hot young stars with infrared excesses : NGC 2264 - W 46, W 90 and W 100.

Abstract

New ultraviolet data are combined with optical data to investigate the wavelength-dependent extinction of the stars W46, W90, and W100 in the young galactic cluster NGC 2264. The observations of W90 confirm the existence of anomalous (circumstellar) dust extinction with a ratio of total to selective extinction, R greater than 7. This extinction is most easily explained by a graphite-silicate mixture with larger mean sizes than are present in the diffuse interstellar medium. For W46 and W100, the grains are likely to be gray, but the possibility of nongray extinction cannot be excluded because of uncertainties arising from the very small ultraviolet optical depths of the circumstellar dust.