A Methane Isolated Planetary Mass Object in Orion

Details A Methane Isolated Planetary Mass Object in Orion A Methane Isolated Planetary Mass Object in Orion

2002-06-20

arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0206353v1

Astrophys.J. 578 (2002) 536-542

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astrophysics

Accepted for publication in the ApJ. Twelve pages, figures and tables included

Scientific paper

10.1086/342474

We report on the discovery of a free-floating methane dwarf toward the direction of the young star cluster sigma Orionis. Based on the object's far-red optical and near-infrared photometry and spectroscopy, we conclude that it is a possible member of this association. We have named it as S Ori J053810.1-023626 (S Ori 70 is the abridged name). If it is a true member of sigma Orionis, the comparison of the photometric and spectroscopic properties of S Ori 70 with state-of-the-art evolutionary models yields a mass of 3 (+5/-1) Jupiter mass for ages between 1 Myr and 8 Myr. The presence of such a low-mass object in our small search area (55.4 sq. arcmin) would indicate a rising substellar initial mass function in the sigma Orionis cluster even for planetary masses.

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