Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy
Scientific paper
Jan 2010
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2010aas...21542424h&link_type=abstract
American Astronomical Society, AAS Meeting #215, #424.24; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 42, p.334
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astronomy
Scientific paper
Outside our solar system, T dwarfs have the coldest photospheres that are currently accessible to direct observation. With masses inferred to lie between 10 and 60 times that of Jupiter, these objects represent a class of object linking the properties of observable low mass stars and brown dwarfs with those of unobservable extrasolar planets. Because of their low photospheric temperatures, an understanding of the atmospheres of T dwarfs is likely to yield important clues about the nature of giant planetary atmospheres. The cool atmospheres of T dwarfs are rich in molecular gases, especially methane (CH4). In fact, strong, broad CH4 absorption lines at near-infrared wavelengths represent the distinguishing feature of T dwarfs from hotter objects. Most T dwarfs have been discovered in large area sky surveys, however recently astronomers have begun searching for T dwarfs in young star clusters. Surveying young clusters has several advantages. First, low mass objects are more luminous at this stage of their evolution than those in the field. In addition, objects in clusters have well known ages, as opposed to field objects for which the ages are extremely difficult to determine. Finally, as T dwarfs are 2-5 orders of magnitude brighter when young, it allows them to be detected at greater distance. For these reasons, we have recently conducted a CH4 imaging survey of the Rho Ophiuchi cluster for T dwarfs using the IRIS2 imager on the Anglo Australian Telescope. The Rho Ophiuchi cloud is the closest (d 120 parsecs) star-forming region to Earth that has a compact core harboring several hundred young ( 1 Myr) stellar objects. In this poster, we present the results of our imaging survey.
Barsony Mary
Haisch Karl E. Jr.
Higley Sherene J.
Tinney Chris
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