* Astronomy

Title: HST Observations of the HD 202628 Debris Disk
Authors: John E. Krist, Karl R. Stapelfeldt, Geoffrey Bryden, Peter Plavchan

A ring-shaped debris disk around the G2V star HD 202628 (d = 24.4 pc) was imaged in scattered light at visible wavelengths using the coronagraphic mode of the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph on the Hubble Space Telescope. The ring is inclined by 64 degrees from face-on, based on the apparent major/minor axis ratio, with the major axis aligned along PA = 130 degrees. It has inner and outer radii (>50% maximum surface brightness) of 139 AU and 193 AU in the northwest ansae and 161 AU and 223 AU in the southeast (dr/r ~ 0.4). The maximum visible radial extent is ~254 AU. With a mean surface brightnesses of V ~ 24 mag per square arcsec, this is the faintest debris disk observed to date in reflected light. The center of the ring appears offset from the star by ~28 AU (deprojected). An ellipse fit to the inner edge has an eccentricity of 0.18 and a = 158 AU. This offset, along with the relatively sharp inner edge of the ring, suggests the influence of a planetary-mass companion. There is a strong similarity with the debris ring around Fomalhaut, though HD 202628 is a more mature star with an estimated age of about 2 Gyr.
We also provide surface brightness limits for nine other stars in our study with strong Spitzer excesses around which no debris disks were detected in scattered light (HD 377, HD 7590, HD 38858, HD 45184, HD 73350, HD 135599, HD 145229, HD 187897, and HD 201219).

Read more (1748kb, PDF)