| Issue |
EAS Publications Series
Volume 71-72, 2015
The Physics of Evolved Stars: A Conference Dedicated to the Memory of Olivier Chesneau
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|---|---|---|
| Page(s) | 211 - 216 | |
| Section | Disks | |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1051/eas/1571048 | |
| Published online | 01 December 2015 | |
E. Lagadec, F. Millour and T. Lanz (eds)
EAS Publications Series, 71–72 (2015) 211-216
The Nearby AGB Star L2 Puppis: The Birth Of a Planetary Nebula?
1 Unidad Mixta Internacional Franco-Chilena de Astronomía, UMI 3386, CNRS/INSU, France & Departamento de Astronomía, Universidad de Chile, Camino El Observatorio 1515, Las Condes, Santiago, Chile
2 LESIA, UMR 8109, Observatoire de Paris, PSL, CNRS, UPMC, Univ. Paris-Diderot, 5 place Jules Janssen, 92195 Meudon, France
3 Institut de Radioastronomie Millimétrique, 300 rue de la Piscine, 38406 Saint Martin d*Hères, France
4 Laboratoire Lagrange, Université Côte d*Azur, Observatoire de la Côte d*Azur, CNRS, Bd. de l*Observatoire, CS 34229, 06304 Nice Cedex 4, France
Adaptive optics observations in the infrared (VLT/NACO, Kervella et al. [6]) and visible (VLT/SPHERE, Kervella et al. [7]) domains revealed that the nearby AGB star L2 Pup (d = 64 pc) is surrounded by a dust disk seen almost edge-on. Thermal emission from a large dust “loop” is detected at 4 μm up to more than 10 AU from the star. We also detect a secondary source at a separation of 32 mas, whose nature is uncertain. L2 Pup is currently a relatively “young” AGB star, so we may witness the formation of a planetary nebula. The mechanism that breaks the spherical symmetry of mass loss is currently uncertain, but we propose that the dust disk and companion are key elements in the shaping of the bipolar structure. L2 Pup emerges as an important system to test this hypothesis.
© EAS, EDP Sciences, 2015