Description
We have identified 139 cool carbon stars in the near-infrared spectrophotometric survey of the Infrared Telescope in Space (IRTS) from the conspicuous presence of molecular absorption bands at 1.8, 3.1, and 3.8{mu}m. Among them, 14 are new bright (K~4.0-7.0) Carbon stars. We find a trend relating the 3.1{mu}m band strength to the (K-L') color index, which is known to correlate with mass-loss rate. This could be an effect of a relation between the depth of the 3.1{mu}m feature and the degree of development of the extended stellar atmosphere where dust starts to form.
|