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Published Online August 12, 2004
Science DOI: 10.1126/science.1102929

Reports

Submitted on July 19, 2004
Accepted on August 5, 2004

Substructure in the Circumstellar Disk Around the Young Star AU Microscopii

Michael C. Liu 1*

1 Institute for Astronomy, University of Hawaii, 2680 Woodlawn Drive, Honolulu, HI 96822, USA.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed.
Michael C. Liu , E-mail: mliu{at}ifa.hawaii.edu

Keck adaptive optics imaging with a physical resolution of 0.4 astronomical units (AU) resolves the inner (15 to 80 AU) disk of AU Microscopii (AU Mic, GJ 803, HD 197481), the nearest known scattered light disk to Earth. The inner disk is asymmetric and possesses a sharp change in structure at 35 AU. The disk also shows spatially localized enhancements and deficits at 25- to 40-AU separations. The overall morphology points to the influence of unseen larger bodies and resembles structures expected from recent planet formation. AU Mic is coeval with the archetypical debris disk system {beta} Pictoris, and the similarities between their two disks point to synchronous disk evolution. Multiple indications of substructure appear to be common in circumstellar disks at an age of {approx} 12 million years.




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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)