Potential very low-mass companions to young stars in Taurus and Ophiuchus

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Recent discoveries of low-mass companions to young stars like GQ Lupi were originally hailed as the first images of extrasolar planets. The large distances to the primary stars made it impossible to confirm common proper motion companionship without the aid of seven year old WFPC2 images. Here, we are observing a sample of young stars with faint, unconfirmed companions within 3 arcseconds of stars in Taurus and Ophiuchus seen in the archived WFPC2 images. With the NIFS+Altair instrument, we will not only be able to confidently determine common proper motions for these companions (nine year baseline and ~30mas/yr proper motions) but will also be able to determine their spectral types and, hence, their mass. While further investigations into the properties of GQ Lupi have resulted in its companion being re- classified as a very low-mass brown dwarf, its formation at such wide separations is still a mystery. While these very low-mass companions may not be planetary in nature, they do represent a unique class of objects whose origin and properties still need to be investigated.

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