No Arabic abstract
We present high-contrast observations of the circumstellar environment of the Herbig Ae/Be star HD100546. The final 3.8 micron image reveals an emission source at a projected separation of 0.48+-0.04 (corresponding to ~47+-4 AU at a position angle of 8.9+-0.9 degree. The emission appears slightly extended with a point source component with an apparent magnitude of 13.2+-0.4 mag. The position of the source coincides with a local deficit in polarization fraction in near-infrared polarimetric imaging data, which probes the surface of the well-studied circumstellar disk of HD100546. This suggests a possible physical link between the emission source and the disk. Assuming a disk inclination of ~47 degree the de-projected separation of the object is ~68 AU. Assessing the likelihood of various scenarios we favor an interpretation of the available high-contrast data with a planet in the process of forming. Follow-up observations in the coming years can easily distinguish between the different possible scenarios empirically. If confirmed, HD100546 b would be a unique laboratory to study the formation process of a new planetary system, with one giant planet currently forming in the disk and a second planet possibly orbiting in the disk gap at smaller separations.
Discs of gas and dust surrounding young stars are the birthplace of planets. However, direct detection of protoplanets forming within discs has proved elusive to date. We present the detection of a large, localized deviation from Keplerian velocity in the protoplanetary disc surrounding the young star HD163296. The observed velocity pattern is consistent with the dynamical effect of a two Jupiter-mass planet orbiting at a radius $approx$ 260au from the star.
Planets are thought to form in the gas and dust disks around young stars. In particular, it has been proposed that giant planets can form through the gravitational instability of massive extended disks around intermediate-mass stars. However, we still lack direct observations to constrain this mechanism. We have spatially resolved the 8.6 and 11.2 $mu$m emission of a massive protoplanetary disk seen edge on around an A star, Gomezs Hamburger (GoHam), using VISIR at the Very Large Telescope. A compact region situated at a projected distance of $350pm50$ AU south of the central star is found to have a reduced emission.This asymmetry is fully consistent with the presence of a cold density structure, or clump, identified in earlier CO observations, and we derive physical characteristics consistent with those observations: a mass of 0.8-11.4 Jupiter masses (for a dust-to-gas mass ratio of 0.01), a radius of about 10$^2$ astronomical units, and a local density of about $10^{7}$ cm$^{-3}$. Based on this evidence, we argue that this clump, which we call GoHam b, is a promising candidate for a young protoplanet formed by gravitational instability that might be representative of the precursors of massive planets observed around A stars, such as HR 8799 or Beta pictoris. More detailed studies at high angular resolution are needed to better constrain the physical properties of this object to confirm this proposal.
We present long baseline Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) observations of the 870$,mu$m dust continuum emission and CO (3-2) from the protoplanetary disk around the Herbig Ae/Be star HD 100546, which is one of the few systems claimed to have two young embedded planets. These observations achieve a resolution of 4 au (3.8 mas), an rms noise of 66$mu$Jy/beam, and reveal an asymmetric ring between $sim$20-40 au with largely optically thin dust continuum emission. This ring is well fit by two concentric and overlapping Gaussian rings of different widths and a Vortex. In addition, an unresolved component is detected at a position consistent with the central star, which may trace the central inner disk ($<$2au in radius). We report a lack of compact continuum emission at the positions of both claimed protoplanets. We use this result to constrain the circumplanetary disk (CPD) mass and size of 1.44M$_{rm Earth}$ and 0.44au in the optically thin and thick regime, respectively, for the case of the previously directly imaged protoplanet candidate at $sim$55 au (HD100546 b). We compare these empirical CPD constraints to previous numerical simulations. This suggests that HD100546 b is inconsistent with several planet accretion models, while gas-starved models are also still compatible. We estimate the planetary mass as 1.65 M$_J$ by using the relation between planet, circumstellar, and circumplanetary masses derived from numerical simulations. Finally, the CO integrated intensity map shows a possible spiral arm feature that would match the spiral features identified in Near-Infrared scattered light polarized emission, which suggests a real spiral feature in the disk surface that needs to be confirmed with further observations.
Context. The Vela Molecular Ridge hosts a number of young embedded star clusters in the same evolutionary stage. Aims. The main aim of the present work is testing whether the fraction of members with a circumstellar disk in a sample of clusters in the cloud D of the Vela Molecular Ridge, is consistent with relations derived for larger samples of star clusters with an age spread. Besides, we want to constrain the age of the young embedded star clusters associated with cloud D. Methods. We carried out L (3.78 microns) photometry on images of six young embedded star clusters associated with cloud D of the Vela Molecular Ridge, taken with ISAAC at the VLT. These data are complemented with the available HKs photometry. The 6 clusters are roughly of the same size and appear to be in the same evolutionary stage. The fraction of stars with a circumstellar disk was measured in each cluster by counting the fraction of sources displaying a NIR excess in colour-colour (HKsL) diagrams. Results. The L photometry allowed us to identify the NIR counterparts of the IRAS sources associated with the clusters. The fraction of stars with a circumstellar disk appears to be constant within errors for the 6 clusters. There is a hint that this is lower for the most massive stars. The age of the clusters is constrained to ~1-2 Myr. Conclusions. The fraction of stars with a circumstellar disk in the observed sample is consistent with the relations derived from larger samples of star clusters and with other age estimates for cloud D. The fraction may be lower for the most massive stars. Our results agree with a scenario where all intermediate and low-mass stars form with a disk, whose lifetime is shorter for higher mass stars.
Within the NaCo-ISPY exoplanet imaging program, we aim at detecting and characterizing the population of low-mass companions at wide separations ($gtrsim$10AU), focusing in particular on young stars either hosting a known protoplanetary disk or a debris disk. R CrA is one of the youngest (1-3 Myr) and most promising objects in our sample because of two previous studies that suggested the presence of a close companion. Our aim is to directly image and characterize the companion for the first time. We observed R CrA twice with the NaCo instrument at VLT in the $L$ filter with a one year time baseline in between. The high-contrast imaging data were reduced and analyzed, and in both datasets the companion candidate was detected. The companion is detected at a separation of $196.8pm4.5$/$196.6pm5.9$ mas ($18.7pm1.3$/$18.7pm1.4$ AU) and position angle of $134.7pm0.5^circ/133.7pm0.7^circ$ in the first/second epoch observation. We measure a contrast of $7.29pm0.18$/$6.70pm0.15$ mag with respect to the primary. Stellar proper motion study rejects the hypothesis of the signal being a background object. The companion candidate orbits in the clockwise direction and, if on a face-on circular orbit, its period is $sim43-47$ yr. This value disagrees with the estimated orbital motion and therefore a face-on circular orbit may be excluded. Depending on the assumed age, extinction and brightness of the primary, the stellar companion has a mass between $0.10pm0.02, M_odot$ and $1.03^{+0.20}_{-0.18},M_odot$ range, if no contribution from circumsecondary material is taken into account. The presence of the companion needs to be taken into account when analyzing the complex circumstellar environment of R CrA.