AKARI and Spitzer Observations of Heavily Obscured C-rich AGB/Post-AGB Stars

García-Hernández, D. A.; Bunzel, F.; Engels, D.; Perea-Calderón, J. V.; García-Lario, P.
Referencia bibliográfica

AKARI, a Light to Illuminate the Misty Universe ASP Conference Series, Vol. 418, proceedings of a conference held 16-19 February 2009 at the University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan. Edited by Takashi Onaka, Glenn J. White, Takao Nakagawa, and Issei Yamamura. San Francisco: Astronomical Society of the Pacific, 2009, p.435

Fecha de publicación:
12
2009
Número de autores
5
Número de autores del IAC
0
Número de citas
3
Número de citas referidas
3
Descripción
We present AKARI/IRC and Spitzer/IRS observations of a selected sample of galactic IRAS sources considered to be heavily obscured AGB / post-AGB stars based on their characteristic IRAS colours. All of them are completely invisible in the optical range but extremely bright in the infrared. Based on AKARI and Spitzer spectroscopy and using DUSTY we are able to determine the dominant chemistry of their circumstellar shells as well as the properties of the dust grains contained in these shells. Most of the sources are found to be C-rich (being the reddest C-rich stars observed so far). We find only molecular absorptions (and no PAH features) such as acetylene (C2H2) at 13.7 μm, indicative of an early post-AGB stage. We shortly discuss our findings in the context of stellar evolution during the hidden “transition phase” from AGB stars to Planetary Nebulae.