Dust Formation, Mass Loss, and Diameters of Evolved Stars Observed with a Long Baseline Infrared Interferometer

许多明亮的红巨星从其外层喷射出大量的物质。最终恒星会迅速变成白矮星。我们对物质抛射的机理所知有限。这些恒星附近的条件将被研究。伯克利红外空间干涉仪将被用来确定热尘埃在喷射发生区域的分布。散斑干涉测量和VLBA观测也将进行。一个主要目标是将恒星的变化与喷射尘埃壳的结构联系起来，从而阐明喷射机制。＊＊＊

9315485 Danchi Many luminous red giant stars eject significant amounts of material from their outer layers. This culminates with the star rapidly becoming a white dwarf. Our knowledge of the mechanism by which the mass is ejected is limited. The conditions in the close vicinity of such stars will be studied. The Berkeley Infrared Spatial Interferometer will be used to determine the distribution of warm dust in the regions where the ejection is taking place. Speckle interferometry and VLBA observations will also be carried out. A primary goal is to relate the variations of the stars to the structure of the ejected dust shell and thus shed light on the ejection mechanism. ***