Stellar and Molecular Radii of a Mira Star: First Observations with the Keck Interferometer Grism | Zendy

J. A. Eisner | Zendy; James R. Graham | Zendy; Rachel Akeson | Zendy; Edgar R. Ligon | Zendy; M. M. Colavita | Zendy; Gibor Basri | Zendy; K. Summers | Zendy; Sam Ragland | Zendy; A. J. Booth | Zendy

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Stellar and Molecular Radii of a Mira Star: First Observations with the Keck Interferometer Grism

Author(s) -

J. A. Eisner,

James R. Graham,

Rachel Akeson,

Edgar R. Ligon,

M. M. Colavita,

Gibor Basri,

K. Summers,

Sam Ragland,

A. J. Booth

Publication year - 2006

Publication title -

the astrophysical journal

Language(s) - English

Resource type - Journals

SCImago Journal Rank - 2.376

H-Index - 489

eISSN - 1538-4357

pISSN - 0004-637X

DOI - 10.1086/510717

Subject(s) - physics , astrophysics , opacity , radius , photosphere , grism , astronomy , interferometry , wavelength , stellar mass , star formation , stars , galaxy , redshift , spectral line , optics , computer security , computer science

Using a new grism at the Keck Interferometer, we obtained spectrallydispersed (R ~ 230) interferometric measurements of the Mira star R Vir. Thesedata show that the measured radius of the emission varies substantially from2.0-2.4 microns. Simple models can reproduce these wavelength-dependentvariations using extended molecular layers, which absorb stellar radiation andre-emit it at longer wavelengths. Because we observe spectral regions with andwithout substantial molecular opacity, we determine the stellar photosphericradius, uncontaminated by molecular emission. We infer that most of themolecular opacity arises at approximately twice the radius of the stellarphotosphere.Comment: 12 pages, including 3 figures. Accepted by ApJ

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