The Formation and Evolution of Planetary Systems (FEPS): Discovery of an Unusual Debris System Associated with HD 12039

D. C. Hines, D. E. Backman, J. Bouwman, L. A. Hillenbrand, J. M. Carpenter, M. R. Meyer, J. S. Kim, M. D. Silverstone, J. Rodmann, S. Wolf, E. E. Mamajek, T. Y. Brooke, D. L. Padgett, T. Henning, A. Moro-Martin, E. Stobie, K. D. Gordon, J.E. Morrison, J. Muzerolle, K.Y.L. Su 2006, ApJ, 638, 1070

We report the discovery of a debris system associated with the 30 Myr old G3/5V star HD 12039 using Spitzer Space Telescope observations from 3.6 - 160 micron. An observed infrared excess (L_IR/L_ast = 1x10^-4) above the expected photosphere for lambda > 14 micron is fit by thermally emitting material with a color temperature of T = 110 K, warmer than the majority of debris disks identified to date around Sun-like stars. The object is not detected at 70 micron with a 3sigma upper limit 6 times the expected photospheric flux. The spectrum of the infrared excess can be explained by warm, optically thin material comprised of blackbody-like grains of size > 7 micron that reside in a belt orbiting the star at 4-6 AU. An alternate model dominated by smaller grains, near the blow-out size a = 0.5 micron, located at 30-40 AU is also possible, but requires the dust to have been produced recently since such small grains will be expelled from the system by radiation pressure in few times 10^2 yrs.

[XXX/astro-ph Preprint] [ADS Entry]

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