TY - JOUR
T1 - The Gemini Nici Planet-Finding Campaign
T2 - Discovery of a close substellar companion to the young debris disk star PZ TEL
AU - Biller, Beth A.
AU - Liu, Michael C.
AU - Wahhaj, Zahed
AU - Nielsen, Eric L.
AU - Close, Laird M.
AU - Dupuy, Trent J.
AU - Hayward, Thomas L.
AU - Burrows, Adam
AU - Chun, Mark
AU - Ftaclas, Christ
AU - Clarke, Fraser
AU - Hartung, Markus
AU - Males, Jared
AU - Reid, I. Neill
AU - Shkolnik, Evgenya L.
AU - Skemer, Andrew
AU - Tecza, Matthias
AU - Thatte, Niranjan
AU - Alencar, Silvia H.P.
AU - Artymowicz, Pawel
AU - Boss, Alan
AU - De Gouveia Dal Pino, Elisabete
AU - Gregorio-Hetem, Jane
AU - Ida, Shigeru
AU - Kuchner, Marc J.
AU - Lin, Douglas
AU - Toomey, Douglas
PY - 2010/9/1
Y1 - 2010/9/1
N2 - We report the discovery of a tight substellar companion to the young solar analog PZ Tel, a member of the β Pic moving group observed with high-contrast adaptive optics imaging as part of the Gemini Near-Infrared Coronagraphic Imager Planet-Finding Campaign. The companion was detected at a projected separation of 16.4 ± 1.0 AU (0. ′33 ± 0. ′01) in 2009 April. Second-epoch observations in 2010 May demonstrate that the companion is physically associated and shows significant orbital motion. Monte Carlo modeling constrains the orbit of PZ Tel B to eccentricities >0.6. The near-IR colors of PZ Tel B indicate a spectral type of M7 ± 2 and thus this object will be a new benchmark companion for studies of ultracool, low-gravity photospheres. Adopting an age of 12+8-4 Myr for the system, we estimate a mass of 36 ± 6 MJup based on the Lyon/DUSTY evolutionary models. PZ Tel B is one of the few young substellar companions directly imaged at orbital separations similar to those of giant planets in our own solar system. Additionally, the primary star PZ Tel A shows a 70 μm emission excess, evidence for a significant quantity of circumstellar dust that has not been disrupted by the orbitalmotion of the companion.
AB - We report the discovery of a tight substellar companion to the young solar analog PZ Tel, a member of the β Pic moving group observed with high-contrast adaptive optics imaging as part of the Gemini Near-Infrared Coronagraphic Imager Planet-Finding Campaign. The companion was detected at a projected separation of 16.4 ± 1.0 AU (0. ′33 ± 0. ′01) in 2009 April. Second-epoch observations in 2010 May demonstrate that the companion is physically associated and shows significant orbital motion. Monte Carlo modeling constrains the orbit of PZ Tel B to eccentricities >0.6. The near-IR colors of PZ Tel B indicate a spectral type of M7 ± 2 and thus this object will be a new benchmark companion for studies of ultracool, low-gravity photospheres. Adopting an age of 12+8-4 Myr for the system, we estimate a mass of 36 ± 6 MJup based on the Lyon/DUSTY evolutionary models. PZ Tel B is one of the few young substellar companions directly imaged at orbital separations similar to those of giant planets in our own solar system. Additionally, the primary star PZ Tel A shows a 70 μm emission excess, evidence for a significant quantity of circumstellar dust that has not been disrupted by the orbitalmotion of the companion.
KW - Brown dwarfs
KW - Instrumentation: adaptive optics
KW - Planetary systems
KW - Planets and satellites: detection
KW - Stars: pre-main sequence
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U2 - 10.1088/2041-8205/720/1/L82
DO - 10.1088/2041-8205/720/1/L82
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:78149436725
SN - 2041-8205
VL - 720
SP - L82-L87
JO - Astrophysical Journal Letters
JF - Astrophysical Journal Letters
IS - 1 PART 2
ER -