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Published June 11, 2020 | Version Published + Accepted Version
Journal Article Open

Astrometric orbits of spectral binary brown dwarfs – I. Massive T dwarf companions to 2M1059−21 and 2M0805+48

Creators

  • 1. ROR icon Space Telescope Science Institute
  • 2. ROR icon University of California, San Diego
  • 3. ROR icon American Museum of Natural History
  • 4. ROR icon Main Astronomical Observatory
  • 5. ROR icon University of Geneva
  • 6. ROR icon Centro de Astrobiología
  • 7. ROR icon University of Pennsylvania
  • 8. ROR icon NASA Exoplanet Science Institute
  • 9. ROR icon Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias
  • 10. ROR icon University of La Laguna
  • 11. ROR icon Spanish National Research Council
  • 12. ROR icon Laboratory of Astrophysics of Bordeaux

Abstract

Near-infrared spectroscopic surveys have uncovered a population of short-period, blended-light spectral binaries composed of low-mass stars and brown dwarfs. These systems are amenable to orbit determination and individual mass measurements via astrometric monitoring. Here, we present first results of a multiyear campaign to obtain high-precision absolute astrometry for spectral binaries using the Gemini-South and Gemini-North GMOS imagers. We measure the complete astrometric orbits for two systems: 2M0805+48 and 2M1059−21. Our astrometric orbit of 2M0805+48 is consistent with its 2-yr radial velocity orbit determined previously and we find a mass of 66^(+5)_(−14) M_(Jup) for its T5.5 companion. For 2M1059−21, we find a 1.9-yr orbital period and a mass of 67^(+4)_(−5) M_(Jup) for its T3.5 companion. We demonstrate that sub-milliarcsecond absolute astrometry can be obtained with both GMOS imagers and that this is an efficient avenue for confirming and characterizing ultracool binary systems.

Additional Information

© 2020 The Author(s). Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society. This article is published and distributed under the terms of the Oxford University Press, Standard Journals Publication Model (https://academic.oup.com/journals/pages/open_access/funder_policies/chorus/standard_publication_model) Accepted 2020 April 30. Received 2020 April 28; in original form 2020 January 31. This research made use of the data bases at the Centre de Données astronomiques de Strasbourg (http://cds.u-strasbg.fr); of NASA's Astrophysics Data System Service (http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abstract_service.html); of the paper repositories at arXiv; and of ASTROPY, a community-developed core PYTHON package for Astronomy (Astropy Collaboration et al. 2013). Based on observations obtained at the Gemini Observatory (acquired through the Gemini Observatory Archive and processed using the Gemini IRAF package and gemini_python), which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., under a cooperative agreement with the NSF on behalf of the Gemini partnership: the National Science Foundation (United States), the National Research Council (Canada), CONICYT (Chile), Ministerio de Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación Productiva (Argentina), and Ministério da Ciência, Tecnologia e Inovação (Brazil). This work has made use of data from the European Space Agency (ESA) mission Gaia (https://www.cosmos.esa.int/gaia), processed by the Gaia Data Processing and Analysis Consortium (DPAC; https://www.cosmos.esa.int/web/gaia/dpac/consortium). Funding for the DPAC has been provided by national institutions, in particular the institutions participating in the Gaia Multilateral Agreement. ELM acknowledges funding from the Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (MINECO/FEDER) under grant no. AYA2015-69350-C3-1-P. DBG and AJB acknowledge funding support from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration under Grant No. NNX15AI75G.

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Accepted Version - 2004.14889.pdf

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Additional details

Identifiers

Eprint ID
104053
Resolver ID
CaltechAUTHORS:20200625-112850339

Related works

Describes
https://arxiv.org/abs/2004.14889 (URL)

Funding

Gaia Multilateral Agreement
Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (FEDER)
Ministerio de Economía, Industria y Competitividad (MINECO)
AYA2015-69350-C3-1-P
NASA
NNX15AI75G

Dates

Created
2020-06-25
Created from EPrint's datestamp field
Updated
2021-11-16
Created from EPrint's last_modified field

Caltech Custom Metadata

Caltech groups
Infrared Processing and Analysis Center (IPAC)