Confirmation and Characterization of Brown Dwarfs and Giant Planets from NICMOS 7226/7227

Details Confirmation and Characterization of Brown Dwarfs and Giant Planets from NICMOS 7226/7227 Confirmation and Characterization of Brown Dwarfs and Giant Planets from NICMOS 7226/7227

Jul 1999

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1999hst..prop.8176s&link_type=abstract

HST Proposal ID #8176

Physics

Hst Proposal Id #8176 Cool Stars

Scientific paper

A systematic search for giant planet and brown dwarf companions to stars in the solar neighborhood is a cornerstone of the NICMOS IDT's Environments of Nearby Stars {EONS} program. A carefully selected candidate list of 74 stars was observed using the NICMOS coronagraph at 1.6 microns. We have found possible sub-stellar companions as faint as H=22, 10 to 15 magnitudes fainter than their primaries at separations of 0.8" to 5.0" corresponding to minimum physical separations of less than 10 AU for some of the stars in the sample. The lower mass limit depends on age, distance, and spectral type, but can be as low as 3-5 M{Jupiter} for many of our targets. Following the initial search-phase, second epoch spectrographic observations are required to characterize the physical nature of the putative companions. STIS spectra will allow us to compare the atomic line and molecular band strengths of key tracers for very low mass M and L stars {TiO, VO, and FeH bands}, brown dwarfs similar to GL 229B {LiI 8216, CsI 8521 and 8944, H20 9300 and 9500 bands}, RbI 7800 and 7948, CrH 8611 and 8800 for hotter BDs, and CH4 8890 in giant-Jupiters. Ground-based atmospheric absorption compromises the ability to obtain high quality spectra in the broad H2O vapor bands in the 9300-9600 spectral region. With such observations, we can address questions as fundamental as: Is here a continuity of objects across the sub-stellar mass spectrum bridging the main sequence to planetary objects? What is their frequency of occurrence? At what distances will they be found from their primaries? And, what implications will these discoveries have for our understanding of stellar/planetary formation mechanisms?

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