Deriving the True Mass of an Unresolved Brown Dwarf Companion with AO Aided Astrometry

Details Deriving the True Mass of an Unresolved Brown Dwarf Companion with AO Aided Astrometry Deriving the True Mass of an Unresolved Brown Dwarf Companion with AO Aided Astrometry

Jan 2010

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2010aas...21534802m&link_type=abstract

American Astronomical Society, AAS Meeting #215, #348.02; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 42, p.529

Physics

Optics

Scientific paper

From radial velocity detections alone one does not get all orbital parameters needed to derive the true mass of a non-transiting, unresolved substellar companion to a star. Additional astrometric measurements are needed to calculate the inclination and the longitude of the ascending node. Until today only few true companion masses have been determined by this method with the HST fine guidance sensor (Benedict 2006, Benedict 2002).
We aim to derive the true mass of a brown dwarf candidate companion to an early M 2.5V dwarf with groundbased high-resolution astrometry aided by adaptive optics. We found this unique brown dwarf desert object, which distance to the host star is only 0.42 AU, in our UVES precision radial velocity survey of M dwarfs, inferring a minimum companion mass of 27 Jupiter masses (Kuerster 2008). Combining the data with HIPPARCOS astrometry, we found a probability of only 2.9% that the companion is stellar.
We are therefore observing the host star and a reference star within a monitoring program with VLT/NACO to derive the true mass of the companion and establish its nature (BD vs. star). Simultaneous observations of a reference field in a globular cluster are performed to determine the stability of the AO plus detector system and check its suitability for such high-precision astrometric measurements over several epochs which are needed to find and analyse extrasolar planet systems. We present preliminary results of the analysis of the astrometric displacements of the host star due to the unseen companion after correcting for differential refraction and differential aberration, as well as a first orbit fit and mass estimation.

Affiliated with

Also associated with

No associations

Rating

Deriving the True Mass of an Unresolved Brown Dwarf Companion with AO Aided Astrometry 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 Deriving the True Mass of an Unresolved Brown Dwarf Companion with AO Aided Astrometry, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Deriving the True Mass of an Unresolved Brown Dwarf Companion with AO Aided Astrometry will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

Comments { 0 }

Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-962614