THERMAL INFRARED MMTAO OBSERVATIONS OF THE HR 8799 PLANETARY SYSTEM
- Steward Observatory, University of Arizona, 933 N. Cherry Ave., Tucson, AZ 85721 (United States)
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, Swarthmore College, Swarthmore, PA 19081 (United States)
We present direct imaging observations at wavelengths of 3.3, 3.8 (L' band), and 4.8 (M band) {mu}m, for the planetary system surrounding HR 8799. All three planets are detected at L' . The c and d components are detected at 3.3 {mu}m, and upper limits are derived from the M-band observations. These observations provide useful constraints on warm giant planet atmospheres. We discuss the current age constraints on the HR 8799 system and show that several potential co-eval objects can be excluded from being co-moving with the star. Comparison of the photometry is made to models for giant planet atmospheres. Models that include non-equilibrium chemistry provide a reasonable match to the colors of c and d. From the observed colors in the thermal infrared, we estimate T {sub eff} < 960 K for b and T {sub eff} = 1300 and 1170 K for c and d, respectively. This provides an independent check on the effective temperatures and thus masses of the objects from the Marois et al. results.
- OSTI ID:
- 21450843
- Journal Information:
- Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 716, Issue 1; Other Information: DOI: 10.1088/0004-637X/716/1/417; ISSN 0004-637X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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