NTT Observations Indicate that Brown Dwarfs Form Like StarsJune 07, 2001Dusty Disks Detected around Very Young Substellar Objects in the Orion Nebula An international team of astronomers is announcing today the discovery of dusty disks surrounding numerous very faint objects that are believed to be recently formed Brown Dwarfs in the Orion Nebula. This finding is based on detailed observations with SOFI, a specialised infrared-sensitive instrument at the ESO 3.5-m New Technology Telescope at the La Silla Observatory. It is of special interest because it sheds light on the origin and nature of substellar objects, known as "Brown Dwarfs". In particular, these results suggest that Brown Dwarfs share a common origin with stars and that Brown Dwarfs are more similar in nature to stars than to planets and, like stars, have the potential to form with accompanying systems of planets. Moreover, the presence of dusty protoplanetary disks around the faintest objects in the Orion Nebula cluster confirms both the membership of these faint stars in the cluster and their nature as bona-fide substellar objects, making this the largest population of Brown Dwarf objects yet known. These important results are being reported today to the American Astronomical Society Meeting in Pasadena (California, USA). For the moment being, the detection of disks around the Brown Dwarf candidates in the Trapezium Cluster rests entirely on the measurements of the near-infrared colours of these objects. Additional confirmation of the presence of such dust disks can be obtained with sensitive infrared observations made at longer wavelengths. Such observations are possible with the largest ground-based telescopes like the VLT or with the upcoming NASA infrared satellite mission (SIRTF). The full text of this ESO Press Release, with two photos and many weblinks, is available at: http://www.eso.org/outreach/press-rel/pr-2001/pr-14-01.htm European Southern Observatory (ESO) |
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