The Astronomical Journal (Jan 2024)
89 New Ultracool Dwarf Comoving Companions Identified with the Backyard Worlds: Planet 9 Citizen Science Project
- Austin Rothermich,
- Jacqueline K. Faherty,
- Daniella Bardalez-Gagliuffi,
- Adam C. Schneider,
- J. Davy Kirkpatrick,
- Aaron M. Meisner,
- Adam J. Burgasser,
- Marc Kuchner,
- Katelyn Allers,
- Jonathan Gagné,
- Dan Caselden,
- Emily Calamari,
- Mark Popinchalk,
- Genaro Suárez,
- Roman Gerasimov,
- Christian Aganze,
- Emma Softich,
- Chin-Chun Hsu,
- Preethi Karpoor,
- Christopher A. Theissen,
- Jon Rees,
- Rosario Cecilio-Flores-Elie,
- Michael C. Cushing,
- Federico Marocco,
- Sarah Casewell,
- Thomas P. Bickle,
- Les Hamlet,
- Michaela B. Allen,
- Paul Beaulieu,
- Guillaume Colin,
- Jean Marc Gantier,
- Leopold Gramaize,
- Peter Jalowiczor,
- Martin Kabatnik,
- Frank Kiwy,
- David W. Martin,
- Billy Pendrill,
- Ben Pumphrey,
- Arttu Sainio,
- Jorg Schumann,
- Nikolaj Stevnbak,
- Guoyou Sun,
- Christopher Tanner,
- Vinod Thakur,
- Melina Thevenot,
- Zbigniew Wedracki
Affiliations
- Austin Rothermich
- ORCiD
- Department of Astrophysics, American Museum of Natural History , Central Park West at 79th Street, NY 10024, USA; Department of Physics, Graduate Center, City University of New York , 365 5th Avenue, New York, NY 10016, USA; Department of Physics and Astronomy, Hunter College, City University of New York , 695 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10065, USA; Backyard Worlds: Planet 9, USA
- Jacqueline K. Faherty
- ORCiD
- Department of Astrophysics, American Museum of Natural History , Central Park West at 79th Street, NY 10024, USA; Backyard Worlds: Planet 9, USA
- Daniella Bardalez-Gagliuffi
- ORCiD
- Department of Astrophysics, American Museum of Natural History , Central Park West at 79th Street, NY 10024, USA; Backyard Worlds: Planet 9, USA
- Adam C. Schneider
- ORCiD
- Backyard Worlds: Planet 9, USA; US Naval Observatory , Flagstaff Station, 10391 West Naval Observatory Road, Flagstaff, AZ 86005, USA
- J. Davy Kirkpatrick
- ORCiD
- Backyard Worlds: Planet 9, USA; IPAC, Mail Code 100-22, Caltech , 1200 E. California Boulevard, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA
- Aaron M. Meisner
- ORCiD
- Backyard Worlds: Planet 9, USA; NSF’s National Optical-Infrared Astronomy Research Laboratory , 950 N. Cherry Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85719, USA
- Adam J. Burgasser
- ORCiD
- Backyard Worlds: Planet 9, USA; Department of Astronomy & Astrophysics, University of California, San Diego , 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA
- Marc Kuchner
- ORCiD
- Backyard Worlds: Planet 9, USA; Exoplanets and Stellar Astrophysics Laboratory , NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, 8800 Greenbelt Road, Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA
- Katelyn Allers
- ORCiD
- Physics and Astronomy Department, Bucknell University , 701 Moore Avenue, Lewisburg, PA 17837, USA
- Jonathan Gagné
- ORCiD
- Backyard Worlds: Planet 9, USA; Planètarium Rio Tinto Alcan , 4801 Pierre-de Coubertin Ave, Montreal, Quebec H1V 3V4, Canada
- Dan Caselden
- ORCiD
- Department of Astrophysics, American Museum of Natural History , Central Park West at 79th Street, NY 10024, USA; Backyard Worlds: Planet 9, USA
- Emily Calamari
- ORCiD
- Department of Astrophysics, American Museum of Natural History , Central Park West at 79th Street, NY 10024, USA; Department of Physics, Graduate Center, City University of New York , 365 5th Avenue, New York, NY 10016, USA
- Mark Popinchalk
- ORCiD
- Department of Astrophysics, American Museum of Natural History , Central Park West at 79th Street, NY 10024, USA; Department of Physics, Graduate Center, City University of New York , 365 5th Avenue, New York, NY 10016, USA; Department of Physics and Astronomy, Hunter College, City University of New York , 695 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10065, USA
- Genaro Suárez
- ORCiD
- Department of Astrophysics, American Museum of Natural History , Central Park West at 79th Street, NY 10024, USA
- Roman Gerasimov
- ORCiD
- Center for Astrophysics and Space Sciences, University of California, San Diego , 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA; Department of Physics & Astronomy, University of Notre Dame , Notre Dame, IN 46556, USA
- Christian Aganze
- ORCiD
- Center for Astrophysics and Space Sciences, University of California, San Diego , 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA; Department of Physics, Stanford University , Stanford, CA 94305, USA
- Emma Softich
- ORCiD
- Department of Astronomy & Astrophysics, University of California, San Diego , 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA
- Chin-Chun Hsu
- ORCiD
- Center for Interdisciplinary Exploration and Research in Astrophysics (CIERA), Northwestern University , 1800 Sherman, Evanston, IL 60201, USA
- Preethi Karpoor
- Department of Astronomy & Astrophysics, University of California, San Diego , 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA
- Christopher A. Theissen
- ORCiD
- Department of Astronomy & Astrophysics, University of California, San Diego , 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA
- Jon Rees
- ORCiD
- UCO/Lick Observatory , 7281 Mount Hamilton Road, Mount Hamilton, CA 95140, USA
- Rosario Cecilio-Flores-Elie
- Department of Physics, Graduate Center, City University of New York , 365 5th Avenue, New York, NY 10016, USA
- Michael C. Cushing
- ORCiD
- Ritter Astrophysical Research Center, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Toledo , 2801 W. Bancroft Street, Toledo, OH 43606, USA
- Federico Marocco
- ORCiD
- Backyard Worlds: Planet 9, USA; IPAC, Mail Code 100-22, Caltech , 1200 E. California Boulevard, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA
- Sarah Casewell
- ORCiD
- Backyard Worlds: Planet 9, USA; School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Leicester , University Road, Leicester LE1 7RH, UK
- Thomas P. Bickle
- ORCiD
- School of Physical Sciences, The Open University , Milton Keynes, MK7 6AA, UK
- Les Hamlet
- Backyard Worlds: Planet 9, USA
- Michaela B. Allen
- Exoplanets and Stellar Astrophysics Laboratory , NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, 8800 Greenbelt Road, Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA
- Paul Beaulieu
- Backyard Worlds: Planet 9, USA
- Guillaume Colin
- ORCiD
- Backyard Worlds: Planet 9, USA
- Jean Marc Gantier
- ORCiD
- Backyard Worlds: Planet 9, USA
- Leopold Gramaize
- ORCiD
- Backyard Worlds: Planet 9, USA
- Peter Jalowiczor
- ORCiD
- Backyard Worlds: Planet 9, USA
- Martin Kabatnik
- ORCiD
- Backyard Worlds: Planet 9, USA
- Frank Kiwy
- ORCiD
- Backyard Worlds: Planet 9, USA
- David W. Martin
- Backyard Worlds: Planet 9, USA
- Billy Pendrill
- Backyard Worlds: Planet 9, USA
- Ben Pumphrey
- ORCiD
- Backyard Worlds: Planet 9, USA
- Arttu Sainio
- ORCiD
- Backyard Worlds: Planet 9, USA
- Jorg Schumann
- ORCiD
- Backyard Worlds: Planet 9, USA
- Nikolaj Stevnbak
- ORCiD
- Backyard Worlds: Planet 9, USA
- Guoyou Sun
- ORCiD
- Backyard Worlds: Planet 9, USA
- Christopher Tanner
- Backyard Worlds: Planet 9, USA
- Vinod Thakur
- Backyard Worlds: Planet 9, USA
- Melina Thevenot
- ORCiD
- Backyard Worlds: Planet 9, USA
- Zbigniew Wedracki
- Backyard Worlds: Planet 9, USA
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-3881/ad324e
- Journal volume & issue
-
Vol. 167,
no. 6
p. 253
Abstract
We report the identification of 89 new systems containing ultracool dwarf companions to main-sequence stars and white dwarfs, using the citizen science project Backyard Worlds: Planet 9 and cross-reference between Gaia and CatWISE2020. 32 of these companions and 33 host stars were followed up with spectroscopic observations, with companion spectral types ranging from M7–T9 and host spectral types ranging from G2–M9. These systems exhibit diverse characteristics, from young to old ages, blue to very red spectral morphologies, potential membership to known young moving groups, and evidence of spectral binarity in nine companions. 20 of the host stars in our sample show evidence for higher-order multiplicity, with an additional 11 host stars being resolved binaries themselves. We compare this sample’s characteristics with those of the known stellar binary and exoplanet populations, and find our sample begins to fill in the gap between directly imaged exoplanets and stellar binaries on mass ratio–binding energy plots. With this study, we increase the population of ultracool dwarf companions to FGK stars by ∼42%, and more than triple the known population of ultracool dwarf companions with separations larger than 1000 au, providing excellent targets for future atmospheric retrievals.
Keywords
