| Description |
V838 Mon is one of the most enigmatic objects observed in stellar astrophysics in recent decades. It came to attention when it underwent a powerful eruptive outburst in Jan. 2002, increasing in luminosity by a factor of 100 over a period of 3 months. Immediately following this event a spectacular light echo was formed from the outburst light reflecting off the surrounding dust. The theories that best explain the outburst are a giant star engulfing a planetary system or a merger between a very low mass star and a very young, maybe pre-main sequence low-intermediate mass star. We obtained PACS and SPIRE (and will obtain HIFI) data of the star and the surrounding dust from a GT1 proposal. From the PACS and SPIRE maps we can see that the extended emission varies with wavelegth, and hence in dust condtions. In addition, by comparing to previous Spitzer images, we can see that the morphology of the extended emission (ISM dust) and the flux of the unresolved source (new dust forming around the star) have changed between 2004, 2007 and 2011. Hence, in this proposal we are asking for 2 additional epochs of imaging, to follow the evolution of all of this dust. |
