Boyer, M. L. ; McQuinn, K. B. ; Barmby, P. ; Bonanos, A. Z. ; Gehrz, R. D. ; Gordon, K. D. ; Groenewegen, M. ; Lagadec, E. ; Lennon, D. ; Marengo, M. ; Meixner, M. ; Skillman, E. D. ; Sloan, G. C. ; Sonneborn, G. ; van Loon, J. T. ; Zijlstra, A.

published in American Astronomical Society Meeting Abstracts #223, 223, pp. 355.07 (2014)

Abstract: Asymptotic Giant Branch (AGB) stars may be the dominant stellar dust source in galaxies, potentially driving galactic chemical evolution. Specifically, the dustiest ``extreme'' AGB stars, which comprise 5% of the AGB population, provide more than 70% of the AGB-produced dust in the Magellanic Clouds (Riebel et al. 2012; Boyer et al. 2012). Despite their importance, these stars have only been studied in detail in the Magellanic Clouds, which cover a limited range in metallicity. Here, we present the first results of the DUST In Nearby Galaxies with Spitzer (DUSTINGS) post-cryogen Spitzer program. The DUSTINGS program was designed to identify and characterize these extreme AGB stars in a complete infrared census of resolvable Local Group (2 Mpc) dwarf galaxies, which span a wide range of galactic environments. We find hundreds of extreme AGB star candidates and estimate their dust-injection rates.

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