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

在这个项目中，巴索尼博士和她的合作者将进行一项观测调查，在恒星形成区域寻找亚恒星或行星质量的天体。这些被称为T型矮星的天体在年轻时相对发光，可以被探测到，因为它们在光谱中表现出对甲烷的广泛吸收特征。研究小组将进行一次广域红外探测，通过在甲烷波段的波长和邻近波长成像来发现T矮星。甲烷波段的微弱物体很可能是T-矮星。通过本科生的参与，这项研究活动将产生更广泛的教育影响。学生将被旧金山州立大学和犹他谷州立学院(现为犹他谷大学)录取，并将有机会访问合作中的另一所机构。大量T型矮星的探测将有助于改进恒星形成的理论，特别是在质量最小的恒星和质量最大的行星之间的区域。

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.