Debris Disks of Members of the Blanco 1 Open Cluster

August 2010 • 2010ApJ...719.1859S

Authors • Stauffer, John R. • Rebull, Luisa M. • James, David • Noriega-Crespo, Alberto • Strom, Steven • Wolk, Scott • Carpenter, John M. • Barrado y Navascues, David • Micela, Giusi • Backman, Dana • Cargile, P. A.

Abstract • We have used the Spitzer Space Telescope to obtain Multiband Imaging Photometer for Spitzer (MIPS) 24 μm photometry for 37 members of the ~100 Myr old open cluster Blanco 1. For the brightest 25 of these stars (where we have 3σ uncertainties less than 15%), we find significant mid-IR excesses for eight stars, corresponding to a debris disk detection frequency of about 32%. The stars with excesses include two A stars, four F dwarfs, and two G dwarfs. The most significant linkage between 24 μm excess and any other stellar property for our Blanco 1 sample of stars is with binarity. Blanco 1 members that are photometric binaries show few or no detected 24 μm excesses whereas a quarter of the apparently single Blanco 1 members do have excesses. We have examined the MIPS data for two other clusters of similar age to Blanco 1—NGC 2547 and the Pleiades. The AFGK photometric binary star members of both of these clusters also show a much lower frequency of 24 μm excesses compared to stars that lie near the single-star main sequence. We provide a new determination of the relation between the V - K _s color and K _s - [24] color for main sequence photospheres based on Hyades members observed with MIPS. As a result of our analysis of the Hyades data, we identify three low mass Hyades members as candidates for having debris disks near the MIPS detection limit.

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Luisa Rebull

Senior Research Scientist