Milli-arcsecond images of the Herbig Ae star HD 163296

TL;DR

This paper presents the first milli-arcsecond images of a young star's environment, revealing complex structures and confirming that such environments are more intricate than previously modeled.

Contribution

It introduces a new method for model-independent imaging of young star environments using interferometric data and demonstrates its application on HD 163296.

Findings

Reconstructed images show an inclined asymmetric flared disk.

Images reveal complex morphological features not explained by simple models.

First milli-arcsecond images of a young star's environment.

Abstract

The very close environments of young stars are the hosts of fundamental physical processes, such as planet formation, star-disk interactions, mass accretion, and ejection. The complex morphological structure of these environments has been confirmed by the now quite rich data sets obtained for a few objects by near-infrared long-baseline interferometry. We gathered numerous interferometric measurements for the young star HD163296 with various interferometers (VLTI, IOTA, KeckI and CHARA), allowing for the first time an image independent of any a priori model to be reconstructed. Using the Multi-aperture image Reconstruction Algorithm (MiRA), we reconstruct images of HD 163296 in the H and K bands. We compare these images with reconstructed images obtained from simulated data using a physical model of the environment of HD 163296. We obtain model-independent $H$ and $K$-band images of the surroundings of HD 163296. The images present several significant features that we can relate to an inclined asymmetric flared disk around HD 163296 with the strongest intensity at about 4-5 mas. Because of the incomplete spatial frequency coverage, we cannot state whether each of them individually is peculiar in any way. For the first time, milli-arcsecond images of the environment of a young star are produced. These images confirm that the morphology of the close environment of young stars is more complex than the simple models used in the literature so far.