Dust in Herbig Ae/Be stars and the cosmic dust connection

The Herbig Ae/Be (HAEBE) stars represent the high-mass analogues of T Tauri stars. They are found in regions of recent star formation, and are generally surrounded by nebulosity. Most possess a substantial infrared excess attributed mainly to heated circumstellar dust grains. Observations of these grains allow the determination of their optical properties from the UV through the IR, and give clues about the evolution of condensates in the circumstellar nebula. They are also the precursors to stars like Vega and β Pic and are thus crucial to our understanding of the main sequence dust emission phenomenon and the formation of planetesimals in these and other systems.