First optical images of circumstellar dust surrounding the debris disk candidate HD 32297

Abstract

Near-infrared imaging with the Hubble Space Telescope recently revealed a circumstellar dust disk around the A star HD 32297. Dust scattered light is detected as far as 400 AU radius and the linear morphology is consistent with a disk ~10 degrees away from an edge-on orientation. Here we present the first optical images that show the dust scattered light morphology from 560 to 1680 AU radius. The position angle of the putative disk midplane diverges by 31 degrees and the color of dust scattering is most likely blue. We associate HD 32297 with a wall of interstellar gas and the enigmatic region south of the Taurus molecular cloud. We propose that the extreme asymmetries and blue disk color originate from a collision with a clump of interstellar material as HD 32297 moves southward, and discuss evidence consistent with an age of 30 Myr or younger.