- Details
- Published on 27 February 2013
Vol. 551
In section 6. Interstellar and circumstellar matter
Pure rotational spectra of TiO and TiO2 in VY Canis Majoris
Titanium is highly depleted in the interstellar medium, and partly
as a consequence, understanding the spatial distribution of gas
phase Ti in AGB and supergiant outflows is of great interest.
It is in the circumstellar shells around such stars that the
refractory dust particles causing this depletion are formed.
In the article by Kaminski et al. highlighted this week, the
authors announce the first detection of the rotational transitions
of TiO and TiO2 towards the red supergiant VY Canis Majoris.
The results suggest that a non-negligible fraction of Ti remains in
the gas phase in this outflow.