A search for exozodiacal dust and faint companions near Sirius, Procyon, and Altair with the NICMOS coronagraph

Authors
Kuchner, MJ Brown, ME
Citation
Mj. Kuchner et Me. Brown, A search for exozodiacal dust and faint companions near Sirius, Procyon, and Altair with the NICMOS coronagraph, PUB AST S P, 112(772), 2000, pp. 827-832
Citations number
28
Categorie Soggetti
Space Sciences
Journal title
PUBLICATIONS OF THE ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY OF THE PACIFIC
ISSN journal
00046280 → ACNP
Volume
112
Issue
772
Year of publication
2000
Pages
827 - 832
Database
ISI
SICI code
0004-6280(200006)112:772<827:ASFEDA>2.0.ZU;2-2
Abstract
We observed Sirius, Altair, and Procyon with the NICMOS coronagraph on the Hubble Space Telescope to look for scattered light from exozodiacal dust an d faint companions within 10 AU from these stars. We did not achieve enough dynamic range to surpass the upper limits set by IRAS on the amount of exo zodiacal dust in these systems, but we did set strong upper limits on the p resence of nearby late-type and substellar companions.