Related papers: The transition from AGB to post-AGB evolution as o…

Recent observations from the Spitzer Space Telescope enable us to study the mid-infrared dust excess of Asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC). Using mid-infrared spectra, together with photometric data from…

Nearby resolved dwarf galaxies provide excellent opportunities for studying the dust-producing late stages of stellar evolution over a wide range of metallicity (-2.7 < [Fe/H] < -1.0). Here, we describe DUSTiNGS (DUST in Nearby Galaxies…

Infrared studies of asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars are critical to our understanding of the formation of cosmic dust. In this investigation, we explore the mid-to-far-infrared emission of oxygen rich AGB star RT Virginis. This…

Stars with masses between roughly 1 and 8~$M_\odot$ end their lives on the asymptotic giant branch (AGB), when intense mass loss takes place. The outflows are generally accepted to be driven by radiation pressure acting on dust grains that…

We present optical high-resolution spectra of a sample of sixteen post-AGB stars and IRC +10216. Of the post-AGB stars, ten show C2 Phillips and Swan and CN Red System absorption, one CH+ emission, one CH+ absorption, and four without any…

AGB stars are, together with supernovae, the main contributors of stellar dust to the interstellar medium (ISM). Dust grains formed by AGB stars are thought to be large. However, as dust nucleation and growth within their outflows are still…

Aims: We study the optical spectral properties of a sample of stars showing far infrared colours similar to those of well-known planetary nebulae. The large majority of them were unidentified sources or poorly known in the literature at the…

Context. The asymptotic giant branch (AGB) phase marks the end of the evolution for low- and intermediate-mass stars, which are fundamental contributors to the mass return to the interstellar medium and to the chemical evolution of…

Our current insights into the circumstellar chemistry of asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars are largely based on studies of carbon-rich stars and stars with high mass-loss rates. In order to expand the current molecular inventory of…

For amorphous carbon several laboratory extinction data are available, which show quite a wide range of differences due to the structural complexity of this material. We have calculated self-consistent dynamic models of circumstellar…

We report the results of an exploratory program to image the extended circumstellar envelopes of asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars in dust-scattered galactic light. The goal is to characterize the morphology of the envelopes as a probe of…

The asymptotic giant branch (AGB) of the globular cluster NGC 4372 appears to extend to unexpectedly high luminosities. We show, on the basis of proper motions and spatial distribution, that the extended AGB is indeed a likely part of the…

The timescales on which astronomical dust grows remain poorly understood, with important consequences for our understanding of processes like circumstellar disk evolution and planet formation.A number of post-asymptotic giant branch stars…

Context. When low and intermediate-mass stars leave the Asymptotic Giant Branch (AGB) phase, and before they reach the Planetary Nebulae stage, they enter a very brief and rather puzzling stellar evolutionary stage named post-AGB. Aims. To…

Carbon-rich Asymptotic Giant Branch (AGB) stars are among the most important contributors of enriched materials to the interstellar medium due to their strong stellar winds. To fully characterize mass loss on the AGB, it is necessary to…

Stars on the asymptotic giant branch (AGB) produce dust in their circumstellar shells. The nature of the dust-forming environment is influenced by the evolution of the stars, in terms of both chemistry and density, leading to an evolution…

Modelling dust formation in single stars evolving through the carbon-star stage of the asymptotic giant branch (AGB) reproduces well the mid-infrared colours and magnitudes of most of the C-rich sources in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC),…

We have identified a new class of Asymptotic Giant Branch (AGB) stars in the Small and Large Magellanic Clouds (SMC/LMC) using optical to infrared photometry, light curves, and optical spectroscopy. The strong dust production and…

Observational manifestations of far evolved stars at the asymptotic giants branch and their nearest descendants are briefly considered. Main results of their chemical composition determinations based on long term high resolution…

Eleven nearby (<300 pc), short-period (50-130 days) asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars were observed in the CO J = (2-1) line. Detections were made towards objects that have evidence for dust production (Ks-[22] >~ 0.55 mag; AK Hya, V744…