Collaborative Project: Methane Imaging Search for Planetary Mass Objects in the Nearest Star-Forming Regions

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In this project, Dr. Barsony and her collaborators will conduct an observational survey to search for sub-stellar or planetary-mass objects in regions of star formation. These objects, called T-dwarfs, are relatively luminous when young, and can be detected because they exhibit broad absorption features from methane in their spectra. The research team will conduct a wide-area infrared survey to find T-dwarfs by imaging at the wavelength of the methane band and at an adjacent wavelength. Objects that are faint in the methane band are likely to be T-dwarf stars.The research activity will have a broader educational impact through the involvement of undergraduate students in the research effort. Students will be recruited at San Francisco State University and at Utah Valley State College (now Utah Valley University), and will have the opportunity to visit the other institution in the collaboration. The detection of large numbers of T-dwarfs will help improve theories of star formation, especially in the domain between the least-massive stars and the most-massive planets.