15 research outputs found
An Infrared Coronagraphic Survey for Substellar Companions
We have used the F160W filter (1.4-1.8 um) and the coronagraph on the
Near-InfraRed Camera and Multi-Object Spectrometer (NICMOS) on the Hubble Space
Telescope (HST) to survey 45 single stars with a median age of 0.15 Gyr, an
average distance of 30 pc, and an average H-magnitude of 7 mag. For the median
age we were capable of detecting a 30 M_Jup companion at separations between 15
and 200 AU. A 5 M_Jup object could have been detected at 30 AU around 36% of
our primaries. For several of our targets that were less than 30 Myr old, the
lower mass limit was as low as a Jupiter mass, well into the high mass planet
region. Results of the entire survey include the proper motion verification of
five low-mass stellar companions, two brown dwarfs (HR7329B and TWA5B) and one
possible brown dwarf binary (Gl 577B/C).Comment: 11 figures, accepted by A