A Search for Extrasolar Giant Planets in the Nearby TW Hya Association

Details A Search for Extrasolar Giant Planets in the Nearby TW Hya Association A Search for Extrasolar Giant Planets in the Nearby TW Hya Association

Dec 1997

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1997hst..prop.7861w&link_type=abstract

HST Proposal ID #7861

Computer Science

Hst Proposal Id #7861 Cool Stars Low-Mass Stars

Scientific paper

One of the primary goals of NASA's mission is the identification of formed and nascent planetary systems. As the nature of giant planets is to cool off quickly as they age, the best stars around which to search for extrasolar giant planets {EGPs} are nearby pre-main sequence {PMS} stars. In this proposal, we identify a unique opportunity for pursuing these goals: we have identified a cluster of five T Tauri stars {TTS} only 39-60 pc from Earth. These stars are at least three times closer than any previously identified TTS. We request time to carry out a three-filter {F164N, F190N, F215N} observing program designed to detect EGPs and brown dwarfs {BDs} around four of these stars by comparison of the observations with model predictions of H_2 absorption in the atmospheres of cool, gaseous objects. Because these stars are only 20 MY old, any associated EGPs and BDs intrinsically will be 3^m-6^m brighter than similar objects of ages 0.1-1.0 Gyr {e.g., those in the Pleiades or Hyades clusters}; and by virtue of the proximity of these stars, such objects will be brighter by 3^m in comparision to young EGPs and BDs in the next closest clusters of PMS stars. In addition, by virtue of their proximity, we have the unprecedented opportunity to image substellar objects within 20 AU of these TTS. This is the region of space not accessible to the GTO programs of coronagraphic imaging of three of these stars yet it is an accessible region for these stars and is a region of fundamental importance for planetary formation.

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