Related papers: Complex Organic Materials in the HR 4796A Disk?
IRAS 15099-5856 in the young supernova remnant (SNR) MSH 15-52 is the first and only SNR-associated object with crystalline silicate dust detected so far, although its nature and the origin of the crystalline silicate are still unclear. In…
We collect near-infrared spectra ($\sim0.75-2.55\ \mu m$) of four Jovian irregular satellites and visible spectra ($\sim0.32-1.00\ \mu m$) of two Jovian irregular satellites, two Uranian irregular satellites, and four Neptune Trojans. We…
Models of the Solar System's dynamical evolution predict the dispersal of primitive planetesimals from their formative regions amongst the gas-giant planets due to the early phases of planetary migration. Consequently, carbonaceous objects…
Gaseous and dust debris disks around white dwarfs (WDs) are formed from tidally disrupted planetary bodies. This offers an opportunity to determine the composition of exoplanetary material by measuring element abundances in the accreting…
White dwarf planetary systems uniquely link the bulk elemental composition of exoplanetary material to the mineralogy as photospheric abundances can be compared to circumstellar dust mineralogy. This study re-examines Spitzer/IRS spectra of…
Transition disks are considered sites of ongoing planet formation, and their dust and gas distributions could be signposts of embedded planets. The transition disk around the T Tauri star RY Lup has an inner dust cavity and displays a…
We present optical and IR spectra of a set of low-mass stars and brown dwarfs in the Coronet cluster (aged ~1Myr), obtained with the multifiber spectrograph FLAMES/VLT and IRS/Spitzer. The optical spectra reveal spectral types between M1…
With four giant planets ($m\sim5-10~M_{\rm Jup}$, $T_\rm{eff}\sim900-1200$ K) orbiting between 15-70 au, HR 8799 provides an unparalleled testbed for studying giant planet formation and probing compositional trends across the protoplanetary…
We present a fit to the spectral energy distribution of OH 127.8+0.0, a typical asymptotic giant branch star with an optically thick circumstellar dust shell. The fit to the dust spectrum is achieved using non-spherical grains consisting of…
The composition of planetary solids and gases is largely rooted in the processing of volatile elements in protoplanetary disks. To shed light on the key processes, we carry out a comparative analysis of the gas-phase carbon abundance in two…
The interstellar region within the few central parsecs around the super-massive black hole, Sgr A* at the very Galactic center is composed by a number of overlapping molecular structures which are subject to one of the most hostile physical…
High spatial resolution spectroscopy at 8-13microns with T-ReCS on Gemini-S has revealed striking variations in the mid-infrared emission and absorption in the nucleus of the Circinus galaxy on sub-arcsecond scales. The core of Circinus is…
We present K-band polarimetric images of several massive young stellar objects at resolutions $\sim$ 0.1-0.5 arcsec. The polarization vectors around these sources are nearly centro-symmetric, indicating they are dominating the illumination…
We review here the main direct or indirect ways to detect the possible presence of large amounts of cold molecular hydrogen in the outer parts of disk galaxies, an hypothesis that we have recently developed. Direct ways range from H2…
The rho Oph molecular cloud is undergoing intermediate-mass star formation. UV radiation from its hottest young stars heats and dissociates exposed layers, but does not ionize hydrogen. Only faint radiation from the Rayleigh-Jeans tail of…
HD 213985 is an eccentric binary system with a post-AGB primary and a jet-launching secondary star. We confirm that the system photometric variability is likely due to obscuration by the inner edge of a circumbinary disc, similar to…
We characterize the crystalline silicate content and spatial distribution of small dust grains in a large sample of protoplanetary disks in the Taurus-Auriga young cluster, using Spitzer Space Telescope mid-infrared spectra. In turn we use…
HST/NICMOS PSF-subtracted coronagraphic observations of HD 181327 have revealed the presence of a ring-like disk of circumstellar debris seen in 1.1 micron light scattered by the disk grains, surrounded by a di use outer region of lower…
Coronagraphic imaging with the Near Infrared Camera and Multi Object Spectrometer on the Hubble Space Telescope reveals a large, ~400 AU (4'') radius, circumstellar disk around the Herbig Ae/Be star HD 141569. A reflected light image at 1.1…
We present high resolution spectroscopic mid-infrared observations of the circumstellar disk around the Herbig Ae star HD97048 with the VLT Imager and Spectrometer for the mid-InfraRed (VISIR). We detect the S(1) pure rotational line of…