Related papers: Finding Planets Around White Dwarf Remnants of Mas…
We have compiled photometric data from the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer All Sky Survey and other archival sources for the more than 2200 objects in the original McCook & Sion Catalog of Spectroscopically Identified White Dwarfs. We…
The recent discovery of microlensing of stars in the Large Magellanic Cloud has excited much interest in the nature of the lensing population. Detailed analyses indicate that the mass of these objects ranges from 0.3-0.8 solar masses,…
The search for transiting habitable exoplanets has broadened to include several types of stars that are smaller than the Sun in an attempt to increase the observed transit depth and hence the atmospheric signal of the planet. Of all…
Practically all known planet hosts will evolve into white dwarfs, and large parts of their planetary systems will survive this transition - the same is true for the solar system beyond the orbit of Mars. Spectroscopy of white dwarfs…
The presence of infrared excess flux observed in white dwarfs (WDs) is related to the existence of debris disks or substellar companions. These systems provide important clues in the study of extrasolar planetary material and binary…
IR excesses of white dwarfs (WDs) can be used to diagnose the presence of low-mass companions, planets, and circumstellar dust. Using different combinations of wavelengths and WD temperatures, circumstellar dust at different radial…
We present infrared observations in search of a planet around the white dwarf, GD66. Time-series photometry of GD66 shows a variation in the arrival time of stellar pulsations consistent with the presence of a planet with mass > 2.4Mj. Any…
With the first observations of debris disks as well as proposed planets around white dwarfs, the question of how rocky planets around such stellar remnants can be characterized and probed for signs of life becomes tangible. White dwarfs are…
We present the results of a search of infrared excess candidates in a comprehensive (29\,000 stars) magnitude limited sample of dwarf stars, spanning the spectral range F2-K0, and brighter than V$=$15 mag. We searched the sample within the…
Radio astrometry of nearby, low-mass stars has the potential to be a powerful tool for the discovery and characterization of planetary companions. We present a Very Large Array survey of 172 active M dwarfs at distances of less than 10 pc.…
We report the results of our HST snapshot survey with the ACS HRC PR200L prism, designed to measure the near-UV emission in a sample of nearby M dwarfs. 33 stars were observed, spanning the mass range from 0.1 - 0.6 solar masses (T_eff ~…
Studies of excess infrared radiation around white dwarfs provide important constraints on the evolution of planetary systems and low-mass stars beyond the main sequence stage. In this paper series, we focus on identifying and characterizing…
Astronomers have discovered thousands of planets outside the solar system, most of which orbit stars that will eventually evolve into red giants and then into white dwarfs. During the red giant phase, any close-orbiting planets will be…
A significant fraction of white dwarfs, the degenerate remnants of low- and intermediate-mass stars, host strong magnetic fields; yet, the origin and evolution of these magnetic fields remain poorly understood. Building a large,…
Determining the Galactic distribution and numbers of massive stars, such as Wolf-Rayet stars (WRs), is hampered by intervening Galactic or local circumstellar dust obscuration. In order to probe such regions of the Galaxy we can use…
Almost every known planet host will evolve into a white dwarf, and the surviving planetary material will continue to orbit this stellar remnant. Asteroids perturbed onto star-grazing orbits will become disrupted, forming an accretion disk…
Breakthrough direct detections of planetary companions orbiting A-type stars confirm the existence of massive planets at relatively large separations, but dedicated surveys are required to estimate the frequency of similar planetary…
Infrared excesses around white dwarf stars indicate the presence of various astrophysical objects of interest, including companions and debris disks. In this second paper of a series, we present follow-up observations of infrared excess…
How confident are we that all of the nearest white dwarfs (WDs) have been identified? In an effort to answer this question, we have begun an initiative to identify and characterize new nearby WDs, particularly in the southern hemisphere. We…
We demonstrate that the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) can detect infrared (IR) excess from the blended light spectral energy distribution of spatially unresolved terrestrial exoplanets orbiting nearby white dwarfs. We find that JWST is…