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Register a new userSpitzer Observations of V838 Monocerotis: Detection of a Rare Infrared Light Echo
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We present Spitzer observations of the unusual variable V838 Monocerotis. Extended emission is detected around the object at 24, 70 and 160um. The extended infrared emission is strongly correlated spatially with the HST optical light echo images taken at a similar epoch. We attribute this diffuse nebulosity to be from an infrared light echo caused by reprocessed thermal emission from dust heated by the outward-propagating radiation from the 2002 eruption. The detection of an IR light echo provides an opportunity to estimate the mass in dust of the echo material and hence constrain its origin. We estimate the dust mass of the light echo to be on the order of a solar mass - thereby implying the total gas plus dust mass to be considerably more - too massive for the echo material to be the ejecta from previous outburst/mass-losing events. This is therefore suggestive that a significant fraction of the matter seen through the light echo is interstellar in origin. Unresolved emission at 24 and 70um is also seen at the position of the central star possibly indicating the presence of hot dust freshly condensed in the outburst ejecta.
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We have used long-baseline near-IR interferometry to resolve the peculiar eruptive variable V838 Mon and to provide the first direct measurement of its angular size. Assuming a uniform disk model for the emission we derive an apparent angular diameter at the time of observations (November-December 2004) of $1.83 pm 0.06$ milli-arcseconds. For a nominal distance of $8pm2$ kpc, this implies a linear radius of $1570 pm 400 R_{odot}$. However, the data are somewhat better fit by elliptical disk or binary component models, and we suggest that the emission may be strongly affected by ejecta from the outburst.
Following the outburst of the unusual variable star V838 Monocerotis in 2002, a spectacular light echo appeared. A light echo provides the possibility of direct geometric distance determination, because it should contain a ring of highly linearly polarized light at a linear radius of ct, where t is the time since the outburst. We present imaging polarimetry of the V838 Mon light echo, obtained in 2002 and 2005 with the Advanced Camera for Surveys onboard the Hubble Space Telescope, which confirms the presence of the highly polarized ring. Based on detailed modeling that takes into account the outburst light curve, the paraboloidal echo geometry, and the physics of dust scattering and polarization, we find a distance of 6.1+-0.6 kpc. The error is dominated by the systematic uncertainty in the scattering angle of maximum linear polarization, taken to be theta_{max}=90^o +- 5^o. The polarimetric distance agrees remarkably well with a distance of 6.2+-1.5 kpc obtained from the entirely independent method of main-sequence fitting to a sparse star cluster associated with V838 Mon. At this distance, V838 Mon at maximum light had M_Vsimeq-9.8, making it temporarily one of the most luminous stars in the Local Group. Our validation of the polarimetric method offers promise for measurement of extragalactic distances using supernova light echoes.
Luminous Red Variables (LRVs) are most likely eruptions that are the outcome of stellar mergers. V838 Mon is one of the best-studied members of this class, representing an archetype for stellar mergers resulting from B-type stars. As result of the merger event, nova-like eruptions occur driving mass-loss from the system. As the gas cools considerable circumstellar dust is formed. V838 Mon erupted in 2002 and is undergoing very dynamic changes in its dust composition, geometry, and infrared luminosity providing a real-time laboratory to validate mineralogical condensation sequences in stellar mergers and evolutionary scenarios. We discuss recent NASA Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy SOFIA 5 to 38 micron observations combined with archival NASA Spitzer spectra that document the temporal evolution of the freshly formed (within the last 20 yrs) circumstellar material in the environs of V838 Mon. Changes in the 10 micron spectral region are strong evidence that we are witnessing a classical dust condensation sequence expected to occur in oxygen-rich environments where alumina formation is followed by that of silicates at the temperature cools.
V838 Monocerotis had an intriguing, nova-like outburst in January 2002 which has subsequently led to several studies of the object. It is now recognized that the outburst of V838 Mon and its evolution are different from that of a classical nova or other classes of well-known eruptive variables. V838 Mon, along with two other objects that have analogous properties, appears to comprise a new class of eruptive variables. There are limited infrared studies of V838 Mon. Here, we present near-infrared H band (1.5 - 1.75micron) spectra of V838 Mon from late 2002 to the end of 2004. The principal, new result from our work is the detection of several, rotation-vibration lines of water in the H band spectra. The observed water lines have been modeled to first establish that they are indeed due to water. Subsequently the temperature and column densities of the absorbing material, from where the water absorption features originate, are derived. From our analysis, we find that the water features arise from a cool ~750-900 K region around V838 Mon which appears to be gradually cooling with time.
We discuss the main observational facts on the eruption of V838 Monocerotis in terms of possible outburst mechanisms. We conclude that the stellar merger scenario is the only one, which can consistently explain the observations.
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