Program: GN-2008B-Q-73

Title:A close-up view on the youngest brown dwarf
PI:Alexander Scholz
Co-I(s): Ray Jayawardhana, Kenneth Wood

Abstract

As of today, the origin of brown dwarfs is still an unresolved problem. All recent observations aimed to distinguish between the competing formation scenarios have not been able to decide the issue, partly because they focus on objects with ages >1Myr. At these ages, signatures of the formation process are only barely detectable. A more direct view on BD formation can be obtained by studying these objects in their earliest evolutionary stages. We have identified an object with a likely substellar final mass and an age less than 0.5Myr (Class-I stage), younger than all known brown dwarfs. Here we propose to characterize the system by sampling the infrared SED using Gemini-North with NIRI/Michelle. Our observations will facilitate detailed modeling of the system, thus enabling us to improve the constraints on the mass of the central object and the properties of its disk. This Gemini program will constitute a major step to build a comprehensive picture for this benchmark object.

Publications using this program's data