Discovery of an Edge-on Dust Disk around the [WC10] Central Star CPD –56°8032

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Published 2002 June 24 © 2002. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved. Printed in U.S.A.
, , Citation Orsola De Marco et al 2002 ApJ 574 L83 DOI 10.1086/342277

1538-4357/574/1/L83

Abstract

We present Hubble Space Telescope ultraviolet and optical Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph spectroscopy of the [WCL] planetary nebula central star CPD -56°8032, obtained during its latest light-curve minimum. The UV spectrum shows the central star's continuum light distribution to be split into two bright peaks separated by 0farcs10. We interpret this finding as due to an edge-on disk or torus structure that obscures direct light from the star, which is seen primarily via its light scattered from the disk's rims or lobes. CPD -56°8032 is an archetype of dual dust chemistry [WCL] planetary nebulae, which exhibit strong infrared emission features from both carbon-rich and oxygen-rich materials, and for which the presence of a disk harboring the O-rich grains had been suggested. Our direct observation of an edge-on occulting dust structure around CPD -56°8032 provides strong support for such a model and for binary interactions being responsible for the correlation between the dual dust chemistry phenomenon in planetary nebulae and the presence of a hydrogen-deficient [WCL] Wolf-Rayet central star.

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10.1086/342277