2002ApJ...569..964J

We have obtained 11.7 and 17.9 µm images at the Keck I telescope of the circumstellar dust emission from L₂ Pup, which is one of the nearest (D=61 pc) mass-losing, pulsating red giants that has a substantial infrared excess. We propose that the star is losing mass at a rate of ∼3x10^–7 M_☉ yr^–1. Given its relatively low luminosity (∼1500 L_☉), relatively high effective temperature (near 3400 K), relatively short period (∼140 days), and inferred gas outflow speed of 3.5 km.s^–1, standard models for dust-driven mass loss do not apply. Instead, the wind may be driven by the stellar pulsations, with radiation pressure on dust being relatively unimportant, as described in some recent calculations. L₂ Pup may serve as the prototype of this phase of stellar evolution, in which a star could lose ∼15% of its initial main-sequence mass.