Related papers: Oph 1622-2405: Not a Planetary-Mass Binary

While following up L dwarf candidates selected photometrically from the Two Micron All Sky Survey, we uncovered an unusual object designated 2MASS J01415823-4633574. Its optical spectrum exhibits very strong bands of vanadium oxide but…

We report the discovery of a brown dwarf companion to the young M dwarf 1RXS J235133.3+312720 as part of a high contrast imaging search for planets around nearby young low-mass stars with Keck-II/NIRC2 and Subaru/HiCIAO. The 2.4" (~120 AU)…

We present infrared H- and K-band spectra of a companion candidate 3" north of the young star GSC 08047-00232, a probable member of the nearby young Horologium association. From previously obtained JHK-band colors and the magnitude…

This paper describes our study of the astrophysics of individual components in close pre-main-sequence binaries. We observed both stars in 17 systems, located in 4 nearby star forming regions, using low-resolution (R=760), infrared…

We report the discovery of a substellar companion to 2MASS J02192210-3925225, a young M6 $\gamma$ candidate member of the Tucana-Horologium association (30 - 40 Myr). This L4 $\gamma$ companion has been discovered with seeing-limited direct…

We report the discovery of a wide (approximately 400 AU projected separation), common proper motion companion to the nearby M dwarf LHS 2803 (PSO J207.0300-13.7422). This object was discovered during our census of the local T dwarf…

(Abridged) Highly unequal-mass ratio binaries are rare among field brown dwarfs, with the known census described by q^(4.9+/-0.7). However, such systems can test the joint accuracy of evolutionary and atmospheric models, under the…

Observations of binaries have traditionally provided the means for ascertaining stellar masses. Here, we use the published data on 8 pre-main-sequence pairs to gauge the accuracy of our own, recently calculated, evolutionary tracks (Palla &…

We present the spectroscopic characterization of the unusual high-amplitude very low mass pre-main-sequence periodic variable CHS7797. This study is based on optical medium-resolution (R=2200) spectroscopy in the 6450-8600 A range, carried…

We report the discovery of a faint L6 \pm 1 companion to the previously known M9 dwarf, 2MASS J01303563-4445411, based on our near-infrared imaging and spectroscopic observations with the 3m Infrared Telescope Facility SpeX…

We present the results of a survey for stellar and substellar companions to 82 young stars in the nearby OB association Upper Scorpius. This survey used nonredundant aperture-mask interferometry to achieve typical contrast limits of…

We have obtained HST Planetary Camera observations of a total of fifty-three low-mass (M < 0.3 M_solar) members of the Hyades cluster. Nine of these stars are resolved as binaries, with separations between 0.1 and 3.1 arcseconds, while a…

Young stellar associations represent a key site for the study of star formation, but to accurately compare observations to models of stellar evolution, the age of an association must be determined. The Upper Scorpius region is the youngest…

Use of the highly sensitive Hokupa'a curvature wavefront sensor has allowed for the first time direct adaptive optics (AO) guiding on brown dwarfs and VLM stars (SpT=M7-L2). An initial survey of 9 such objects discovered one 0.15" binary…

We present results from a high-contrast adaptive optics imaging search for giant planets and brown dwarfs (>1 MJup) around 122 newly identified nearby (<40 pc) young M dwarfs. Half of our targets are younger than 135 Myr and 90% are younger…

(Abridged) We present multi-epoch imaging of the T5.0+T5.5 binary 2MASS J1534-2952AB obtained with the Keck laser guide star adaptive optics system. Combined with an extensive (re-)analysis of archival HST imaging, we find a total mass of…

We present results from a near-infrared spectroscopic study of candidate brown dwarfs and low mass stars in the young cluster NGC 2024. Using FLAMINGOS on the KPNO 2.1m and 4m telescopes, we have obtained spectra of ~70 new members of the…

We identify the L dwarf 2MASS J20261584-2943124 as an unresolved spectral binary, based on low-resolution, near-infrared spectroscopy from IRTF/SpeX. The data reveal a peculiar absorption feature at 1.6 microns, previously noted in the…

Free-floating planetary mass objects--worlds that roam interstellar space untethered to a parent star--challenge conventional notions of planetary formation and migration, but also of star and brown dwarf formation. We focus on the…

The survey of the mid-infrared sky by the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) led to the discovery of extremely cold low-mass brown dwarfs, classified as Y dwarfs, which extend the T class to lower temperatures. Twenty-four Y dwarfs…