Follow UsA High-Resolution Survey of the Very Youngest Brown Dwarfs
HST Proposal 12944
Katelyn Allers (publications @ ADS)
Bucknell University
Category: COOL STARS
Proposal type: GO
Status: completed
Proposal Abstract
We propose to image the youngest {~0.5 Myr} brown dwarfs in the nearby Ophiuchus star-forming region {d=125 pc}. These observations will complete our high resolution imaging survey of a well-defined sample of young brown dwarfs and very low mass stars spanning the age range of 0.5-100 Myr {Allers et al. 2009, Allers et al. 2010, Biller et al. 2011}. Our proposed survey will be the culmination of the most extensive high resolution search for companions to young substellar objects conducted to date. We have established a novel, reddening-insensitive approach, which uses imaging in three WFC3 UVIS and IR filters to discern candidate companions from contaminant background stars. Our proposed survey is sensitive enough to discover planetary-mass companions. As only two planetary-mass companions to brown dwarfs are known {Chauvin et al. 2005, Todorov et al. 2010}, such discoveries will provide valuable new benchmark objects for testing atmospheric and evolutionary models of planetary-mass objects. Our survey will put the strongest constraints to date on the primordial binary fraction for brown dwarfs. By comparing results in Ophiuchus with our completed survey of the Upper Sco region {Biller et al. 2011}, we can directly measure how the binary characteristics change with age {i.e. as a cluster dynamically evolves}, providing key inputs for refining models of brown dwarf formation. The proposed observations are only possible with HST WFC3. Because of the high extinction of the Ophiuchus cloud, suitable tip-tilt stars are not available to allow for ground-based LGS AO imaging of our sample.
Publications referencing this proposal
The impact of satellite trails on Hubble Space Telescope observations
Aussel, B. et al. 2023NatAs...7..262K