Final Results From an HST/NICMOS Search for Close Companions to Nearby Stars

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We report on our final analysis of HST/NICMOS snapshot high resolution images of 233 star systems within 10 parsecs of the sun obtained during HST cycles 7 and 11. Photometry was obtained through filters F110W, F180M, F207M, and F222M on NICMOS camera 2. These filters correspond roughly to the standard J, H, Ks, and K bands and were selected to permit clear identification of brown dwarfs with methane in their atmosphere. With a pixel scale of 75 mas, NICMOS can easily resolve binaries with sub-arcsecond separation. Although this is not a complete census, it is possible to infer properties of the general stellar population and to map out the color space for objects detected by these filters. The data confirm that high mass ratio stellar/substellar binaries such as GJ 229 AB are rare. We discuss the extent to which selection effects can be ruled out in establishing that low mass binaries tend to have similar masses. Partial data analysis detected five companions to nearby M and L dwarfs, including the binary L dwarf GJ 1001 BC (Golimowski et al. 2004). The survey also resolved at least 10 other known binary systems with a separation of less than one arcsecond or with a delta magnitude which would make resolution through traditional ground based means challenging or impossible. This work is supported by grant HST-GO-09845.05 from STScI, NSF grant AST 05-07711, NASA's Space Interferometry Mission, and Georgia State University.

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