Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Letter
  • Published:

On the far-infrared excess of Vega

Nature volume 307, pages 441–442 (1984)Cite this article

Abstract

The Infrared Astronomy Satellite (IRAS) has recently detected a compact far-infrared emission source associated with Vega (α Lyrae)1. This flux appears to be thermal emission from dust heated by the visual/UV luminosity of Vega. Although circum-stellar dust is commonly associated with young, early-type stars2, the characteristics of the emission from Vega are quite atypical. The essential difference is the relatively low temperature of the dust for the observed source size. This low temperature implies that the dust grains producing the far-infrared emission must be very efficient 60/100-µm emitters and must, therefore, be much larger than typical interstellar and circumstellar dust grains. To place more limits on the properties of this far-infrared emission region, we observed Vega at 47 and 95 µm with the Kuiper Airborne Observatory (KAO) on the night of 12–13 August 1983. We report here confirmation of the IRAS results and that the source size may be as large as 46 arc s along some axis.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Aumann, H. H. et al. Astrophys. J. Lett. (in the press).

  2. Harvey, P. M., Thronson, H. A. Jr & Gatley, I. Astrophys. J. 231, 115 (1979).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Wilking, B. A., Harvey, P. M., Lada, C. J., Joy, M. & Doering, C. R. Astrophys. J. (in the press).

  4. Armstrong, K. A. & Low, F. J. Appl. Opt. 9, 2007 (1973).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  5. Armstrong, K. A. & Low, F. J. Appl. Opt. 13, 425 (1974).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Harvey, P. M., Campbell, M. F. & Hoffmann, W. F. Astrophys. J. 219, 891 (1977).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  7. Moseley, S. H. Astrophys. J. 238, 892 (1980).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Gatley, I., Becklin, E. E., Werner, M. W. & Wynn-Williams, C. G. Astrophys. J. 216, 277 (1977).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Whitcomb, S. E. et al. Astrophys. J. 246, 416 (1981).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Aannestad, P. A. Astrophys. J. 200, 30 (1975).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Lang, K. R. Astrophysical Formulae, 544 (Springer, Berlin, 1980).

    Book  Google Scholar 

  12. Dreiling, L. A. & Bell, R. A. Astrophys. J. 241, 736 (1980).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Jenkins, L. F. General Catalogue of Trigonometric Stellar Parallaxes (Yale University Observatory, New Haven, 1963).

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Astronomy Department, University of Texas at Austin, College of Natural Sciences, 15.308 R. L. Moore Hall, Austin, Texas, 78712, USA

    Paul M. Harvey, Bruce A. Wilking & Marshall Joy

Authors
  1. Paul M. Harvey
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Bruce A. Wilking
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Marshall Joy
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Harvey, P., Wilking, B. & Joy, M. On the far-infrared excess of Vega. Nature 307, 441–442 (1984). https://doi.org/10.1038/307441a0

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/307441a0

This article is cited by

Comments

By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing