We report the detection of a faint pointlike feature possibly related to ongoing planet-formation in the disk of the transition disk star HD 169142. The pointlike feature has a Δmag(L)∼6.4, at a separation of ∼0.11" and PA∼0∘. Given its lack of an H or KS counterpart despite its relative brightness, this candidate cannot be explained by purely photospheric emission and must be a disk feature heated by an as yet unknown source. Its extremely red colors make it highly unlikely to be a background object, but future multi-wavelength followup is necessary for confirmation and characterization of this feature.
@article{arxiv.1408.0794,
title = {An Enigmatic Pointlike Feature within the HD 169142 Transitional Disk},
author = {Beth A. Biller and Jared Males and Timothy Rodigas and Katie Morzinski and Laird M. Close and Attila Juhász and Katherine B. Follette and Sylvestre Lacour and Myriam Benisty and Aurora Sicilia-Aguilar and Philip M. Hinz and Alycia Weinberger and Thomas Henning and Jörg-Uwe Pott and Mickaël Bonnefoy and Rainer Köhler},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1408.0794},
year = {2015}
}
Comments
Accepted to ApJ Letters, see also Reggiani et al. 2014