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Article: New astrophysics research from University of Paris discussed.
- Article from:
- Physics Week
- Article date:
- March 10, 2009
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According to a study from Meudon, France, "As is the case of several other Be stars, Achernar is surrounded by an envelope, recently detected by near-IR interferometry. We search for the signature of circumstellar emission at distances of a few stellar radii from Achernar, in the thermal IR domain."
"We obtained interferometric observations on three VLTI baselines in the N band (8-13 mu m), using the MIDI instrument. From the measured visibilities, we derive the angular extension and flux contribution of the N band circumstellar emission in the polar direction of Achernar. The interferometrically resolved polar envelope contributes 13.4 +/- 2.5% of the ...