NOAO > Observing Info > Approved Programs > 2008B-0290
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NOAO > Observing Info > Approved Programs > 2008B-0290 |
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PI: Adam Burgasser, MIT, ajb@mit.edu
Address: Physics Department, MIT Building 37-664B, 77 Massachusetts Ave, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
CoI: Jackie Faherty, SUNY Stony Brook/American Museum of Natural History
CoI: Nicole van der Bliek, CTIO
CoI: Kelle Cruz, Caltech
CoI: Frederick Vrba, USNO Flagstaff
CoI: Sarah Schmidt, U. Washington
CoI: Brandon Swift, Steward Observatory, U. Arizona
CoI: Andrew West, UC Berkeley
CoI: John Bochanski, U. Washington
CoI: Suzanne Hawley, U. Washington
CoI: James Liebert, Steward Observatory, U. Arizona
CoI: I. Neill Reid, Space Telescope Science Institute
CoI: Michael Shara, American Museum of Natural History
Title: The Brown Dwarf Kinematics Project: Parallaxes for Southern Low Luminosity Brown Dwarfs
Abstract: The distances and kinematics of brown dwarfs provide key statistical constraints on their ages, moving group membership, absolute brightnesses, evolutionary trends, and multiplicity. Yet fundamental measurements of parallax, proper motion and radial velocity have been made for only a relatively small fraction of the known brown dwarf population. To address this deficiency, we have initiated the \bf Brown Dwarf Kinematics Project which aims to measure and compile the 6D positions and velocities of all known brown dwarfs within 20 pc of the Sun and select sources of scientific interest. As part of this overarching project, we propose a long-term astrometric program using CTIO 4m + ISPI to measure the distances and proper motions of 51 low luminosity brown dwarfs in the Southern hemisphere. By focusing on the latest-type brown dwarfs, in particular sources spanning the poorly- understood L dwarf/T dwarf transition, this program will provide fundamental measurements for testing atmospheric and evolutionary models, and will allow us to better define the luminosity/effective temperature scale down to the lowest luminosity brown dwarfs now known.
National Optical Astronomy Observatory, 950 North Cherry Avenue, P.O. Box 26732, Tucson, Arizona 85726, Phone: (520) 318-8000, Fax: (520) 318-8360
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NOAO > Observing Info > Approved Programs > 2008B-0290 |
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