Sub-Arcsecond $10\ \mu$m Imaging of Circumstellar Dust \\Around Cool Stars
Session 83 -- Circumstellar Gas and Dust
Display presentation, Wednesday, 11, 1995, 9:20am - 6:30pm

## [83.03] Sub-Arcsecond $10\ \mu$m Imaging of Circumstellar Dust \\Around Cool Stars

R.M. Danen (UCSB, CfA), C.R. Gwinn (UCSB), E.E. Bloemhof (MMTO)

We have used a scanned imaging technique with a simple linear infrared array to directly image the 10 $\mu$m emission from cool stars. At 3-m telescopes, the spatial resolution of our instrument is set by the diffraction limit of the telescope: FWHM $\sim 0.7${\tt "}. Deconvolution can achieve a spatial resolution of $\sim 0.35${\tt "}. Images at these spatial scales permit mapping of the relatively cool dust grains surrounding supergiant stars, which emit strongly at $10\ \mu$m. We find that the $10\ \mu$m emission from IRC $+10420$ and $\alpha$ Sco is resolved at such scales. We use these measurements to set interesting observational constraints on dust grains originating in circumstellar outflows. We present plausible models for the circumstellar dust and compare our results with models of grains in the interstellar medium.