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Originally published in Science Express on 28 September 2006
Science 27 October 2006:
Vol. 314. no. 5799, pp. 621 - 623
DOI: 10.1126/science.1131436
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Reports

Anatomy of a Flaring Proto-Planetary Disk Around a Young Intermediate-Mass Star

Pierre-Olivier Lagage,1* Coralie Doucet,1 Eric Pantin,1 Emilie Habart,2 Gaspard Duchêne,3 François Ménard,3 Christophe Pinte,3 Sébastien Charnoz,1 Jan-Willem Pel4,5

Although planets are being discovered around stars more massive than the Sun, information about the proto-planetary disks where such planets have built up is sparse. We have imaged mid-infrared emission from polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons at the surface of the disk surrounding the young intermediate-mass star HD 97048 and characterized the disk. The disk is in an early stage of evolution, as indicated by its large content of dust and its hydrostatic flared geometry, indicative of the presence of a large amount of gas that is well mixed with dust and gravitationally stable. The disk is a precursor of debris disks found around more-evolved A stars such as ß-Pictoris and provides the rare opportunity to witness the conditions prevailing before (or during) planet formation.

1 Laboratoire de l'Astrophysique des Interactions multi-échelles, Unité Mixte de Recherche N° 7158 [Commissariat à l'Energie Atomique (CEA), CNRS, Université Paris 7], Direction des Sciences de la Matière (DSM)/Laboratoire de recherches sur les lois fondamentales de l'Univers (DAPNIA)/Service d'Astrophysique, CEA Saclay, F-91191 Gif-sur-Yvette Cedex, France.
2 Institut d'Astrophysique Spatiale, F-91405, Orsay Cedex, France.
3 Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Grenoble, CNRS/Université Joseph Fourier, Unité Mixte de Recherche N° 5571, Boîte Postale 53, F-38041 Grenoble Cedex 9, France.
4 Netherlands Foundation for Research in Astronomy, Dwingeloo, Netherlands.
5 University of Groningen, Groningen, Netherlands.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: Pierre-Olivier.Lagage{at}cea.fr

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