Infrared excess

Last updated

An infrared excess is a measurement of an astronomical source, typically a star, that in their spectral energy distribution has a greater measured infrared flux than expected by assuming the star is a blackbody radiator. Infrared excesses are often the result of circumstellar dust heated by starlight and reemitted at longer wavelengths. They are common in young stellar objects and evolved stars on the asymptotic giant branch or older. [1]

In addition, monitoring for infrared excess emission from stellar systems is one possible method that could enable a search for large-scale stellar engineering projects of a hypothetical extraterrestrial civilization; for example a Dyson sphere or Dyson swarm. [2] This infrared excess would be the outcome of the waste heat emitted by the aforementioned structures if they are considered blackbodies at temperatures close to 300 K. [3] [4]

Related Research Articles

18 Boötis is a single star in the northern constellation of Boötes, located about 85 light years away from the Sun. It is visible to the naked eye as a faint, yellow-white hued star with an apparent visual magnitude of 5.41. This object is a suspected member of the Ursa Major Moving Group, based on velocity criteria. It has a magnitude 10.84 optical companion at an angular separation of 163.7″ along a position angle of 219°, as of 2010.

G Centauri is a single star in the southern constellation of Centaurus. It is visible to the naked eye as a faint, blue-white hued star with an apparent visual magnitude of +4.82. This object is located approximately 450 light years from the Sun, based on parallax. It is a member of the Lower Centaurus–Crux group of the Scorpius–Centaurus association, with the former having an age of about 17 million years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Serpens South</span> Relatively dense cluster of more than 600 young stars

The Serpens South star cluster is a relatively dense group of more than 600 young stars, dozens of which are protostars just beginning to form. The cluster is situated in the southern portion of the Serpens cloud. The stars are embedded in a dense filament of interstellar gas, which is part of the giant molecular cloud that has given rise to the cluster of young stars in W40. This entire complex is located at a distance of 1420 light-years from the Earth, and is approximately the same distance as the Serpens Main cluster.

Omega Aurigae, Latinized from ω Aurigae, is the Bayer designation for a double star in the northern constellation of Auriga. Its apparent magnitude is 4.95, which is bright enough to be seen with the naked eye. The distance to this system, as determined using parallax measurements, is approximately 162 light-years. The system is a member of the Columba group of co-moving stars.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Taurus molecular cloud</span> Interstellar molecular cloud in the constellations Taurus and Auriga

The Taurus molecular cloud (TMC-1) is an interstellar molecular cloud in the constellations Taurus and Auriga. This cloud hosts a stellar nursery containing hundreds of newly formed stars. The Taurus molecular cloud is only 140 pc away from Earth, making it possibly the nearest large star formation region. It has been important in star formation studies at all wavelengths.

33 Cygni is a single star located 159 light years away in the northern constellation Cygnus. It is visible to the naked eye as a white-hued star with an apparent visual magnitude of 4.28. The star is moving closer to the Earth with a heliocentric radial velocity of −16 km/s. Eggen (1995) listed it as a proper motion candidate for membership in the IC 2391 supercluster.

16 Comae Berenices is a single star in the northern constellation of Coma Berenices. 16 Comae Berenices is the Flamsteed designation. It is a member of the Coma Star Cluster and is visible to the naked eye with an apparent visual magnitude of 4.96. Based upon an annual parallax shift of 11.7 mas, it is located about 279 light years away.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kappa Phoenicis</span> Star in the constellation Phoenix

κ Phoenicis, Latinized as Kappa Phoenicis, is a single star in the southern constellation of Phoenix. It is visible to the naked eye as a white-hued point of light with an apparent visual magnitude of 3.94. The distance to this star is approximately 77.7 light years based on parallax, and it is drifting further away with a radial velocity of +11 km/s. It is a member of the Castor Moving Group of co-moving stars.

Lambda<sup>1</sup> Phoenicis Star in the constellation Phoenix

λ1 Phoenicis, Latinized as Lambda1 Phoenicis, is a double star in the southern constellation of Phoenix. It is visible to the naked eye as a faint, white-hued point of light with a combined apparent visual magnitude of 4.76. The system is located approximately 183 light years away from the Sun based on parallax. It is a member of the Hyades Supercluster.

HD 45184 is a star in the southern constellation of Canis Major. It is a yellow-hued star near the lower limit of visibility to the naked eye with an apparent visual magnitude of 6.37. The star is located at a distance of 71.65 light years from the Sun based on parallax. It is drifting closer with a radial velocity of −3.8 km/s.

HD 162826 is a star in the constellation Hercules. It is about 110 light-years away from Earth. With an apparent magnitude of 6.55, the star can be found with binoculars or a low-power telescope by reference to nearby Vega in the constellation Lyra.

18 Tauri is a single star in the zodiac constellation of Taurus, located 444 light years away from the Sun. It is visible to the naked eye as a faint, blue-white hued star with an apparent visual magnitude of 5.66. The star is moving further from the Earth with a heliocentric radial velocity of +4.8. It is a member of the Pleiades open cluster, which is positioned near the ecliptic and thus is subject to lunar occultations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Westerhout 40</span> Star-forming region in the constellation Serpens

Westerhout 40 or W40 is a star-forming region in the Milky Way located in the constellation Serpens. In this region, interstellar gas forming a diffuse nebula surrounds a cluster of several hundred new-born stars. The distance to W40 is 436 ± 9 pc, making it one of the closest sites of formation of high-mass O-type and B-type stars. The ionizing radiation from the massive OB stars has created an H II region, which has an hour-glass morphology.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">RCW 36</span> Emission nebula in the constellation of Vela

RCW 36 is an emission nebula containing an open cluster in the constellation Vela. This H II region is part of a larger-scale star-forming complex known as the Vela Molecular Ridge (VMR), a collection of molecular clouds in the Milky Way that contain multiple sites of ongoing star-formation activity. The VMR is made up of several distinct clouds, and RCW 36 is embedded in the VMR Cloud C.

3 Corvi is a single star in the southern constellation of Corvus, located 192 light years away from the Sun. It is visible to the naked eye as a faint, white-hued star with an apparent visual magnitude of 5.45. This object is moving further from the Earth with a heliocentric radial velocity of +14 km/s.

Phi Fornacis is a single star in the southern constellation of Fornax. It has a white hue and is faintly visible to the naked eye with an apparent visual magnitude of 5.13. The distance to this object is approximately 154 light-years based on parallax, and it is drifting further away with a radial velocity of +19 km/s.

HD 12467 is a single star in the northern circumpolar constellation of Cepheus. It has a white hue and is barely visible to the naked eye with an apparent visual magnitude of 6.05. The distance to this object is 231 light years based on parallax, but it is drifting closer with a heliocentric radial velocity of −9 km/s.

HD 182681 is a single, blue-hued star in the zodiac constellation of Sagittarius. It has an apparent visual magnitude of +5.64, which is bright enough to be visible to the naked eye in good conditions. Based upon an annual parallax shift of 14.0013 mas as seen from Earth, this star is located around 233 light years from the Sun. It is moving away from the Sun with a radial velocity of 1.40 km/s.

2MASS J11263991−5003550(2MASS J1126−5003) is a brown dwarf about 53 light-years distant from earth. The brown dwarf is notable for an unusual blue near-infrared color. This brown dwarf does not show subdwarf features and the blue color cannot be explained by an unresolved binary. Instead the blue color is explained by patchy clouds. The patchy cloud model allows thick clouds and a cloud coverage of 50% to explain the spectra of 2MASS J1126−5003. Other blue L-dwarfs exist, but are quite rare.

HD 46588 is a star in the northern circumpolar constellation Camelopardalis. It has an apparent magnitude of 5.44, allowing it to be faintly seen with the naked eye. The object is relatively close at a distance of only 59 light years but is receding with a heliocentric radial velocity of 15 km/s.

References

  1. Cotten, Tara H.; Song, Inseok (2016). "A Comprehensive Census of Nearby Infrared Excess Stars". The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series. 225 (1): 15. arXiv: 1606.01134 . Bibcode:2016ApJS..225...15C. doi:10.3847/0067-0049/225/1/15. ISSN   0067-0049. S2CID   118438871.
  2. "Incredible Technology: How to Search for Advanced Alien Civilizations". Space.com . Archived from the original on 2015-09-29. Retrieved 2014-08-22.
  3. Dyson, Freeman J. (1960-06-03). "Search for Artificial Stellar Sources of Infrared Radiation". Science. 131 (3414): 1667–1668. Bibcode:1960Sci...131.1667D. doi:10.1126/science.131.3414.1667. ISSN   0036-8075. PMID   17780673. S2CID   3195432.
  4. Wright, J. T.; Mullan, B.; Sigurdsson, S.; Povich, M. S. (2014). "The Ĝ Infrared Search for Extraterrestrial Civilizations with Large Energy Supplies. I. Background and Justification". The Astrophysical Journal. 792 (1): 26. arXiv: 1408.1133 . Bibcode:2014ApJ...792...26W. doi: 10.1088/0004-637X/792/1/26 . ISSN   0004-637X.

Evans, Aneurin (1993). The Dusty Universe. Ellis Horwood. pp. 155–165.