the 30 micron dust emission band has been detected in the envelopes of carbon-rich asymptotic giant branch (agb) stars and planetary nebulae (forrest et al. 1981). this dust band is amongst the strongest band in the infrared regime and carry up to 25 percent of the infrared luminosity of the source. the carrier of this band is still a matter of debate although magnesium sulfide (mgs) is a potential candidate. intense 30 micron bands have also been measured towards carbon-rich proto-planetary nebulae known to have the 21 micron emission feature (omont et al 1995) and recently it has been detected towards the galactic center (chan et al. 1996) indicating that the material is probably widespread in the interstellar medium. clearly more observations are requested to better constrain the potential carriers of this prominent dust band. we thus propose to obtain high quality sws spectra in the wavelength range from 23 to 43 microns towards a variety of carbon-rich sources which were selected from their iras properties (presence of a 21 micron emission feature and infrared colors). this work will be complemented both with further laboratory measurements and theoretical modelling.
Instrument
SWS06
Temporal Coverage
1997-03-21T20:50:04Z/1997-11-07T06:25:14Z
Version
1.0
Mission Description
The Infrared Space Observatory (ISO) was the worlds first true orbiting infrared observatory. Equipped with four highly-sophisticated and versatile scientific instruments, it was launched by Ariane in November 1995 and provided astronomers world-wide with a facility of unprecedented sensitivity and capabilities for a detailed exploration of the Universe at infrared wavelengths.
European Space Agency, SZCZERBA et al., 1999, 'DETAILED INVESTIGATION OF THE 30 MICRON BAND SEARCH FOR THE 30 MICRON EMITTERS', 1.0, European Space Agency, https://doi.org/10.5270/esa-7cmv97z
