Results from the Gemini NICI Planet-Finding Campaign

Beth A. Biller; Michael C. Liu; Zahed Wahhaj; Eric L. Nielsen; Thomas L. Hayward; Mark R. Chun; Laird M. Close; Christ Ftaclas; Jared R. Males; Markus Hartung; I. Neill Reid; Evgenya Shkolnik; Andrew J. Skemer; Matthias Tecza; Niranjan A. Thatte; Fraser Clarke; Douglas Toomey

doi:10.1117/12.2057339

7 August 2014 Results from the Gemini NICI Planet-Finding Campaign

Beth A. Biller, Michael C. Liu, Zahed Wahhaj, Eric L. Nielsen, Thomas L. Hayward, Mark R. Chun, Laird M. Close, Christ Ftaclas, Jared R. Males, Markus Hartung, I. Neill Reid, Evgenya Shkolnik, Andrew J. Skemer, Matthias Tecza, Niranjan A. Thatte, Fraser Clarke, Douglas Toomey

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 9148, Adaptive Optics Systems IV; 91481O (2014) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2057339
Event: SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation, 2014, Montréal, Quebec, Canada

Abstract

From 2008 December to 2012 September, the NICI (Near-Infrared Coronagraphic Imager at the Gemini-South 8.1-m) Planet-Finding Campaign (Liu et al. 2010) obtained deep, high-contrast AO imaging of a carefully selected sample of over 200 young, nearby stars. In the course of the campaign, we discovered four co-moving brown dwarf companions: PZ Tel B (36±6 M_Jup, 16.4±1.0 AU), CD-35 2722B (31±8 M_Jup, 67±4 AU), HD 1160B (33⁺¹²_-9 M_Jup, 81± AU), and HIP 79797Bb (55⁺²⁰_-19M_Jup, 3 AU from the previously known brown dwarf companion HIP 79797Ba), as well as numerous stellar binaries. Three survey papers have been published to date, covering: 1) high mass stars (Nielsen et al. 2013), 2) debris disk stars (Wahhaj et al. 2013), and 3) stars which are members of nearby young moving groups (Biller et al. 2013). In addition, the Campaign has yielded new orbital constraints for the ~8-10 MJup planet Pic β (Nielsen et al. 2014) and a high precision measurement of the star-disk offset for the well-known disk around HR 4796A (Wahhaj et al. 2014). Here we discuss constraints placed on the distribution of wide giant exoplanets from the NICI Campaign, new substellar companion discoveries, and characterization both of exoplanets and circumstellar disks.

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Beth A. Biller, Michael C. Liu, Zahed Wahhaj, Eric L. Nielsen, Thomas L. Hayward, Mark R. Chun, Laird M. Close, Christ Ftaclas, Jared R. Males, Markus Hartung, I. Neill Reid, Evgenya Shkolnik, Andrew J. Skemer, Matthias Tecza, Niranjan A. Thatte, Fraser Clarke, and Douglas Toomey "Results from the Gemini NICI Planet-Finding Campaign", Proc. SPIE 9148, Adaptive Optics Systems IV, 91481O (7 August 2014); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2057339

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