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Highlights - Volume 495-2 (February IV 2009)

Details: Published on 12 February 2009

HIGHLIGHTS: this week in A&A

Volume 495-2 (February IV 2009)

In section 6. Interstellar and circumstellar matter

“VLT/NACO coronagraphic observations of fine structures in the disk of beta Pictoris”, by A. Boccaletti, J.-C. Augereau, P. Baudoz, E. Pantin, and A.-M. Lagrange, A&A 495, p. 523

Coronagraphic images of the beta Pictoris disk reveal a number of asymmetries of which some were not reported before (position, elevation, and thickness of the warp). The circumstellar material is visible as close as 0.7” (13.5AU).

In section 1. Letters to the Editor. Sub-Section 4. Extragalactic astronomy

“A candidate tidal disruption event in the Galaxy cluster Abell 3571”, by N. Cappelluti, M. Ajello, P. Rebusco, S. Komossa, A. Bongiorno, C. Clemens, M. Salvato, P. Esquej, T. Aldcroft, J. Greiner, and H. Quintana, A&A 495, p. L9

The authors serendipitously detected with ROSAT an X-ray source that is strongly declining in luminosity, in the galaxy cluster A3571. The period of decay is of about 13 years, and the source was identified by a multi-wavelength study with the galaxy LEDA 095953, a member of the cluster Abell 3571. This event is consistent with a tidal disruption of a star by a black hole of mass 10^7 Msun. Since the black hole only accretes a small amount of mass, it must correspond to a partial or explosive disruption of the star.

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