Luminosity Distance and Extinction by Submicrometer-sized Grains
The distance to the stars is a fundamental parameter, which is determined via two primary methods—parallax and luminosity. While the parallax is a direct trigonometric method, the luminosity distance is usually influenced by interstellar extinction. As long as the optical properties of dust grains a...
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IOP Publishing
2025-01-01
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| Series: | The Astrophysical Journal Letters |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/ada894 |
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| author | R. Siebenmorgen Frank Heymann R. Chini |
| author_facet | R. Siebenmorgen Frank Heymann R. Chini |
| author_sort | R. Siebenmorgen |
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| description | The distance to the stars is a fundamental parameter, which is determined via two primary methods—parallax and luminosity. While the parallax is a direct trigonometric method, the luminosity distance is usually influenced by interstellar extinction. As long as the optical properties of dust grains are wavelength-dependent this contamination can be corrected. However, as the grain size increases, the extinction properties become gray, meaning these particles contribute by a constant at wavelengths $\lesssim $ 1 μ m, making them undetectable by photometry in the optical. In this study, we compare the parallactic and luminosity distances of a pristine sample of 33 well-known early-type stars with nonpeculiar reddening curves and find that the luminosity distance overestimates the parallactic distance in 80% of the cases. This discrepancy can be removed when incorporating a population of large, submicrometer-sized dust grains in a dust model that provides gray extinction, which diminishes the luminosity distance accordingly. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-012e2f8235374a6eaac78f6817ef01af |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2041-8205 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | IOP Publishing |
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| series | The Astrophysical Journal Letters |
| spelling | doaj-art-012e2f8235374a6eaac78f6817ef01af2025-02-01T05:19:01ZengIOP PublishingThe Astrophysical Journal Letters2041-82052025-01-019792L4510.3847/2041-8213/ada894Luminosity Distance and Extinction by Submicrometer-sized GrainsR. Siebenmorgen0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9788-672XFrank Heymann1https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3245-4272R. Chini2https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7538-3072European Southern Observatory , Karl-Schwarzschild-Str. 2, 85748 Garching, GermanyGerman Aerospace Center Institute for Solar-Terrestrial Physics , Kalkhorstweg 53, 17235 Neustrelitz, GermanyNicolaus Copernicus Astronomical Center of the Polish Academy of Sciences , Bartycka 18, 00-716 Warsaw, Poland; Ruhr University Bochum , Faculty of Physics and Astronomy, Astronomical Institute (AIRUB), 44780 Bochum, Germany; Universidad Catolica del Norte , Instituto deAstronomia, Avenida Angamos 0610, Antofagasta, ChileThe distance to the stars is a fundamental parameter, which is determined via two primary methods—parallax and luminosity. While the parallax is a direct trigonometric method, the luminosity distance is usually influenced by interstellar extinction. As long as the optical properties of dust grains are wavelength-dependent this contamination can be corrected. However, as the grain size increases, the extinction properties become gray, meaning these particles contribute by a constant at wavelengths $\lesssim $ 1 μ m, making them undetectable by photometry in the optical. In this study, we compare the parallactic and luminosity distances of a pristine sample of 33 well-known early-type stars with nonpeculiar reddening curves and find that the luminosity distance overestimates the parallactic distance in 80% of the cases. This discrepancy can be removed when incorporating a population of large, submicrometer-sized dust grains in a dust model that provides gray extinction, which diminishes the luminosity distance accordingly.https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/ada894Interstellar dust extinction |
| spellingShingle | R. Siebenmorgen Frank Heymann R. Chini Luminosity Distance and Extinction by Submicrometer-sized Grains The Astrophysical Journal Letters Interstellar dust extinction |
| title | Luminosity Distance and Extinction by Submicrometer-sized Grains |
| title_full | Luminosity Distance and Extinction by Submicrometer-sized Grains |
| title_fullStr | Luminosity Distance and Extinction by Submicrometer-sized Grains |
| title_full_unstemmed | Luminosity Distance and Extinction by Submicrometer-sized Grains |
| title_short | Luminosity Distance and Extinction by Submicrometer-sized Grains |
| title_sort | luminosity distance and extinction by submicrometer sized grains |
| topic | Interstellar dust extinction |
| url | https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/ada894 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT rsiebenmorgen luminositydistanceandextinctionbysubmicrometersizedgrains AT frankheymann luminositydistanceandextinctionbysubmicrometersizedgrains AT rchini luminositydistanceandextinctionbysubmicrometersizedgrains |