Cool Customers in the Stellar Graveyard I: Limits to Extrasolar Planets Around the White Dwarf G29-38

Details Cool Customers in the Stellar Graveyard I: Limits to Extrasolar Planets Around the White Dwarf G29-38 Cool Customers in the Stellar Graveyard I: Limits to Extrasolar Planets Around the White Dwarf G29-38

2004-12-30

arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0412668v2

Astrophys.J. 633 (2005) 1168-1174

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astrophysics

20 pages, 4 figures, Accepted to ApJ

Scientific paper

10.1086/491640

We present high contrast images of the hydrogen white dwarf G 29-38 taken in the near infrared with the Hubble Space Telescope and the Gemini North Telescope as part of a high contrast imaging search for substellar objects in orbit around nearby white dwarfs. We review the current limits on planetary companions for G29-38, the only nearby white dwarf with an infrared excess due to a dust disk. We add our recent observations to these limits to produce extremely tight constraints on the types of possible companions that could be present. No objects $>$ 6 M$_{Jup}$ are detected in our data at projected separations $>$ 12 AU, and no objects $>$ 16 M$_{Jup}$ are detected for separations from 3 to 12 AU, assuming a total system age of 1 Gyr. Limits for companions at separations $<$ 3 AU come from a combination of 2MASS photometry and previous studies of G29-38's pulsations. Our imaging with Gemini cannot confirm a tentative claim for the presence of a low mass brown dwarf. These observations demonstrate that a careful combination of several techniques can probe nearby white dwarfs for large planets and low mass brown dwarfs.

Affiliated with

Also associated with

No associations

Rating

Cool Customers in the Stellar Graveyard I: Limits to Extrasolar Planets Around the White Dwarf G29-38 does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.

If you have personal experience with Cool Customers in the Stellar Graveyard I: Limits to Extrasolar Planets Around the White Dwarf G29-38, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Cool Customers in the Stellar Graveyard I: Limits to Extrasolar Planets Around the White Dwarf G29-38 will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

Comments { 0 }

Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-45089