Exploring the Debris Disk Around Beta Pictoris

1. By Ronan Kerr
Exploring the Debris Disk Around
Beta Pictoris

2. Objectives
● How much Nitrogen is in the
System?
● Does this support Preferential
Depletion or Preferential
Production?

3. Airglow Subtraction
- The earth’s exosphere
contributes significant
emission under certain
conditions

4. Airglow Subtraction
Contaminated Data
Airglow-Free
Airglow
Airglow-Free
Airglow-Subtracted
λ (Å)

5. Data Combination
- Align Spectra
- Combine in
weighted average
λ (Å)
Flux

6. Modelling
- 2 components?
- Circumstellar
absorption and
Interstellar
Medium
- Reduced Chi^2 =
1.6

7. Modelling
- 3 components?
- ISM, two CS
components at or
near the velocity of
Beta Pic
- Reduced Chi^2 =
1.0
- Log(N) for nitrogen
is ~15

8. Results
- Near-solar
Abundances of
Nitrogen in the Beta
Pictoris Debris Disk
- Points to Preferential
Production driving C
and O excess

9. Proposed Solution
● Component 1: CS disk, likely
similar origin to metallic
elements
● Component 2: material with a
wide range of radial velocities,
possibly exocomets

10. Comets
- Possible explanation
for the wider
Nitrogen component
- Population D comets
have a velocity
dispersion that nearly
matches our broad
component
Δλ (Å)
Flux

11. Future Research
● Additional molecular
abundances
● How well do the other elements
work into our proposed
solution?

12. Oxygen
- Very complicated
structure, contaminated by
many other lines
- Can reinforce the origins
of the H, C, O, and N
emission
λ (Å)
Flux

13. Thanks for Listening!