Program: GN-2018A-DD-104

Title:Confirming a Parallax-Discovered Wide Ultracool Companion
PI:Trent Dupuy
Co-I(s): Katelyn Allers, Michael Liu, Evgenya Shkolnik, Adam Kraus, Beth Biller

Abstract

We have just discovered a candidate member of the beta Pic moving group (23 Myr) that would be only the fourth planetary mass object known in the group (after beta Pic b, 51 Eri b, and PSOJ318.5-22). Our candidate is a wide (40", 2300 AU) common-parallax companion to a known member of the beta Pic group. We propose a combination of GNIRS spectroscopy that will allow us to spectrally classify this object (low-res) and confirm its physical association with a precise RV (high-res). The high-resolution spectrum will also constrain its rotation by measuring vsini. Remarkably, our new candidate has the same color and magnitude as the directly imaged planet beta Pic b, which orbits at 9 AU from its host star. By RV-confirming our candidate as a member of the beta Pic moving group we will establish it as a "twin" of one of the best studied directly imaged exoplanets, thereby showing that both objects formed at the same time from the same natal material. Of the few known close-in directly imaged planets (<100 AU) like beta Pic b, _none_ has such a "twin" object that orbits at a wide separation. This would allow a unique test of planet formation, as wide orbiting companions may form from a different pathway and thus have discernable differences in their properties (e.g., SED, rotation) compared to close-in planets. Moreover, planetary mass objects of known age are very rare in general, and even objects that are not twins of well-studied exoplanets have become objects of intense scrutinty (e.g., JWST GTO targets). Thus, our GNIRS confirmation of this unique system is urgent to perform in 2018A before the target (RA~03h) becomes inaccessible.

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