SSC 08546+1732: A Faint, Dust-Enshrouded Carbon Star at High Galactic Latitude|A Faint, Dust-Enshrouded Carbon Star at High Galactic Latitude

Abstract

During the initial phase of a program to search for sub -stellar candidates at high galactic latitudes in the IRAS Serendipitous Survey Catalog, one source, SSC 08546 +1732, was found to have no optical counterpart on the Palomar Observatory Sky Survey plates. Ground based positional, photometric and spectroscopic observations have identified this source as a heavily dust - enshrouded carbon star, similar to those found in the Galactic plane. The high latitude and relative faintness of this source imply that it lies at a distance of 20 - 50 kpc, and is 10 to 30 kpc out of the plane of the Galaxy. SSC 08546 +1732, along with one other distant obscured carbon star found in the IRAS Point Source Catalog (Low 1987; Beichman e1: al. 1988), represent the first examples of such objects found in the Galactic halo. These stars may either have evolved from population I precursors ejected from the disk, or they may be the first obscured Population II halo carbon stars to be observed. A survey for other distant enshrouded carbon stars in the IRAS Faint Source Catalog should help to elucidate the nature of this new population.