one of the exciting discoveries made using iras was the dust disc around vega. so far, only beta pic has had its disc confirmed optically, and for many of the vega-like candidates the disc is only visible between around 20um and 80um. due to the low spatial resolution of iras, relatively little is known about the immediate environment of vega-like stars in the infrared, and how this influences the observed emission. there is, for example, no reliable information on the boundary between the disc and the surrounding interstellar medium. complete (oversampled) maps of known vega-like (beta-pic-like) stars are proposed, observing at two wavelengths (c_60 and c_90) where the dust emission dominates, in order to investigate the spatial and temperature structure of the circumstellar/interstellar medium around the star.
Instrument
PHT32
Temporal Coverage
1996-09-09T06:04:55Z/1997-08-18T03:36:03Z
Version
1.0
Mission Description
The Infrared Space Observatory (ISO) was the world's 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.
