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Circumstellar dust is cosmic dust around a star. It can be in the form of a spherical shell or a disc, e.g. an accretion disk. Circumstellar dust can be responsible for significant extinction and is usually the source of an infrared excess for stars that have it. For some evolved stars on the asymptotic giant branch, the dust can be composed of silicate emissions. According to a study, it is still uncertain whether the dust is a result of crystalline silicate or polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon. However, recent observations revealed that Vega-type stars display broad silicate emission. It is suggested that the circumstellar dust components can depend on the evolutionary stage of a star and is related to the changes in its physical conditions.

The study of the composition of this dust is dubbed astrominerology. The circumstellar dust around aging stars has been observed to include, "almost pure crystalline Mg-rich silicates (forsterite and clinoenstatite), amorphous silicates, diopside, spinel, oxides (corundum and Fe0.9Mg0.1O), and also carbon-rich solids such as: (hydrogenated) amorphous carbons, aromatic hydrocarbons and silicon carbide."

The motion of circumstellar dust is governed by forces due to stellar gravity and radiation pressure.

Circumstellar dust in the Solar System causes the zodiacal light.

See also

• Accretion disc
• Circumplanetary disk
• Circumstellar envelope
• Tabby's Star − oddly dimming star
• List of stars that have unusual dimming periods
• WD 1145+017 - star destroying planetesimal, producing a dusty disk

Sources

• J. Mayo Greenberg, H. C. Van De Hulst (17 April 2013). Interstellar Dust and Related Topics. Springer Science & Business Media, 2013. ISBN 978-9401026642.
• Hans-Peter Gail, Erwin Sedlmayr (2014). Physics and Chemistry of Circumstellar Dust Shells. Cambridge University Press, 2013. ISBN 978-0521833790.
• K. S. Krishna Swamy (2005). "Chapter 6: Circumstellar dust". Dust in the Universe: Similarities and Differences. World Scientific, 2005. ISBN 9812562931.
• Marshall Dimsey Perrin. A High Angular Resolution Survey of Circumstellar Dust Around Herbig Ae/Be Stars. University of California, Berkeley, 2006. ISBN 1109923074.
• Wilfred Henry Sorrell. A Theoretical Study of Circumstellar Dust Around Ae/Be Stars. University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1989.

References

1. Nakada, Y.; Honma, M.; Seki, M. (2003). Mass-Losing Pulsating Stars and their Circumstellar Matter: Observations and Theory. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers. p. 258. ISBN 1402011628.
2. ^ Käufl, Hans U.; Siebenmorgen, Ralf (2013). The Role of Dust in the Formation of Stars: Proceedings of the ESO Workshop Held at Garching, Germany, 11–14 September 1995. Berlin: Springer Science & Business Media. p. 170. ISBN 9783662225158.
3. Hony, Sacha (2003). Infrared Light on the Composition of the Dust Surrounding Carbon-Rich Stars. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press. p. 7. ISBN 9053566686.
4. Jones, Anthony P. (2019). "The mineralogy of cosmic dust: astromineralogy". European Journal of Mineralogy. 19 (6): 771–782. doi:10.1127/0935-1221/2007/0019-1766.

v t e Molecules detected in outer space
Molecules	Diatomic Aluminium monochloride Aluminium monofluoride Aluminium(II) oxide Argonium Carbon cation Carbon monophosphide Carbon monosulfide Carbon monoxide Cyano radical Diatomic carbon Fluoromethylidynium Helium hydride ion Hydrogen chloride Hydrogen fluoride Hydrogen (molecular) Hydroxyl radical Iron(II) oxide Magnesium monohydride Methylidyne radical Nitric oxide Nitrogen (molecular) Imidogen Sulfur mononitride Oxygen (molecular) Phosphorus monoxide Phosphorus mononitride Potassium chloride Silicon carbide Silicon monoxide Silicon monosulfide Sodium chloride Sodium iodide Sulfanyl Sulfur monoxide Titanium(II) oxide Triatomic Aluminium(I) hydroxide Aluminium isocyanide Amino radical Carbon dioxide Carbonyl sulfide CCP radical Chloronium Diazenylium Dicarbon monoxide Disilicon carbide Ethynyl radical Formyl radical Hydrogen cyanide (HCN) Hydrogen isocyanide (HNC) Hydrogen sulfide Hydroperoxyl Iron cyanide Isoformyl Magnesium cyanide Magnesium isocyanide Methylene N2H Nitrous oxide Nitroxyl Ozone Methylidynephosphane Potassium cyanide Trihydrogen cation Sodium cyanide Sodium hydroxide Silicon carbonitride c-Silicon dicarbide SiNC Sulfur dioxide Thioformyl Thioxoethenylidene Titanium dioxide Tricarbon Water Four atoms Acetylene Ammonia Isocyanic acid Cyanoethynyl Formaldehyde Fulminic acid HCCN Hydrogen peroxide Hydromagnesium isocyanide Isocyanic acid Isothiocyanic acid Ketenyl Methylene amidogen Methyl cation Methyl radical Propynylidyne Protonated carbon dioxide Protonated hydrogen cyanide Silicon tricarbide Thioformaldehyde Tricarbon monoxide Tricarbon monosulfide Thiocyanic acid Five atoms Ammonium ion Butadiynyl Carbodiimide Cyanamide Cyanoacetylene Cyanoformaldehyde Cyanomethyl Cyclopropenylidene Formic acid Isocyanoacetylene Ketene Methane Methoxy radical Methylenimine Propadienylidene Protonated formaldehyde Silane Silicon-carbide cluster Six atoms Acetonitrile Cyanobutadiynyl radical E-Cyanomethanimine Cyclopropenone Diacetylene Ethylene Formamide HC4N Ketenimine Methanethiol Methanol Methyl isocyanide Pentynylidyne Propynal Protonated cyanoacetylene Seven atoms Acetaldehyde Acrylonitrile Vinyl cyanide Cyanodiacetylene Ethylene oxide Glycolonitrile Hexatriynyl radical Propyne Methylamine Methyl isocyanate Vinyl alcohol Eight atoms Acetic acid Aminoacetonitrile Cyanoallene Ethanimine Glycolaldehyde Hexapentaenylidene Methylcyanoacetylene Methyl formate Acrolein Nine atoms Acetamide Cyanohexatriyne Dimethyl ether Ethanol Methyldiacetylene Octatetraynyl radical Propene Ethanethiol Propionitrile N-Methylformamide Ten atoms or more Acetone Benzene Benzonitrile Buckminsterfullerene (C60, C60, fullerene, buckyball) C70 fullerene Cyanodecapentayne Ethylene glycol Ethyl formate Methyl acetate Methyl-cyano-diacetylene Methyltriacetylene Propionaldehyde Butyronitrile Pyrimidine Heptatrienyl radical
Deuterated molecules	Ammonia Ammonium ion Formaldehyde Formyl radical Heavy water Hydrogen cyanide Hydrogen deuteride Hydrogen isocyanide Propyne N2D Trihydrogen cation
Unconfirmed	Anthracene Dihydroxyacetone Methoxyethane Glycine Graphene Hemolithin H2NCO Linear C5 Naphthalene cation Phosphine Pyrene Silylidyne
Related	Abiogenesis Astrobiology Astrochemistry Atomic and molecular astrophysics Chemical formula Circumstellar dust Circumstellar envelope Cosmic dust Cosmic ray Cosmochemistry Diffuse interstellar band Earliest known life forms Extraterrestrial life Extraterrestrial liquid water Forbidden mechanism Homochirality Intergalactic dust Interplanetary medium Interstellar medium Photodissociation region Iron–sulfur world theory Kerogen Molecules in stars Nexus for Exoplanet System Science Organic compound Outer space PAH world hypothesis Pseudo-panspermia Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) RNA world hypothesis Spectroscopy Tholin
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• Stellar astronomy
• Circumstellar disks
• Cosmic dust