Extending Stellar Astrophysics to Planetary Masses

对于绝大多数恒星来说，精确的物理参数（如质量和半径）是无法通过直接测量得到的。相反，天文学家依靠经过充分验证的理论模型来推断这些特性，特别是对于通常不可能进行此类测量的单星。没有经历核聚变的气态天体（棕矮星和气态巨行星）的情况就没有这么先进了。该项目旨在通过收集校准理论模型的基本数据来改进我们的理论模型：质量和半径测量，以及这些物体的高质量光谱。这项工作的长期目标是有一天能够像我们理解恒星一样理解像气态巨星和褐矮星这样的“亚恒星”物体。

For the vast majority of stars, precise phsyical parameters (like mass and radius) are not known through direct measurement. Instead, astronomers rely on well-tested theoretical models to be able to infer such properties, especially for single stars where such measurements are typically not possible. The situation for gaseous objects that don't undergo nuclear fusion (brown dwarfs and gas-giant planets) is not nearly so advanced. This project aims to improve our theoretical models of such objects by gathering essential data for calibrating theoretical models: mass and radius measurements, as well as high-quality spectroscopy of those objects. The long-term aspiration of this work is to one day be able to understand "substellar" objects like gas giants and brown dwarfs as well as we understand stars.