Bibcode
Leggett, Sandy; Albert, Loic; Artigau, Etienne; Burningham, Ben; Delfosse, Xavier; Delorme, Philippe; Forveille, Thierry; Lodieu, Nicolas; Lucas, Phil; Marley, Mark; Pinfield, David; Reyle, Celine; Saumon, Didier; Warren, Steve
Bibliographical reference
Spitzer Proposal ID #60093
Advertised on:
4
2009
Citations
0
Refereed citations
0
Description
We request 9.1hrs to obtain IRAC photometry of 11 cold brown dwarfs. The
observations will complete the dataset of near-infrared spectroscopy and
1-5um photometry, for known brown dwarfs with spectral types >T7, and
temperatures of 500K to 800K. These rare very late- type T dwarfs are
the coolest objects known outside of the solar system. For these the
[3.6] band samples a low-flux region of strong CH4 absorption, and the
[4.5] band a bright region subject to absorption by dredged-up CO. The
[4.5] flux becomes increasingly dominant at low temperatures, and is the
best temperature indicator for the latest T dwarfs, for which the near-
infrared features are saturated. Combining accurate IRAC photometry with
our near-infrared data, and models, will allow us to constrain
temperature, metallicity and gravity, as well as vertical mixing in the
atmospheres of our targets. Now that objects as cool as ~500K are being
found it is vital that we understand their behaviour in the
mid-infrared, especially in the WISE era, when the red [3.6]-[4.5] color
will be used to find even more extreme objects.