The serendipitous discovery of a debris disk around the A dwarf HD 46190

The Infrared Spectrograph on the Spitzer Space Telescope has observed several A dwarfs as potential standards and cross-calibrators, and one of these stars, HD 46190, shows the spectroscopic signature of a debris disk. The disk produces a spectral excess that can be fitted with a cool blackbody of similar to81 K. If the emitting particles are spherical blackbodies, they would lie at a distance of similar to82 AU from the central star. The spectrum from the disk can also be fitted with a spectrum rising proportionally with wavelength, and this spectral behavior is consistent with material falling into the inner disk as a result of Poynting-Robertson drag.